Forever Your Fire
by Hidden Guardian
Summary: Crossover with Harry Potter. When you take three Nobodies out of their happy little Nobody world and throw them into Hogwarts, you know that things will never go the way Dumbledore planned. AkuRoku Main! Friend Namine! Language!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Forever Your Fire

Author: Kaisuki Abbasynian

Category: Video Game

Series: Kingdom Hearts

Genres: Romance/Action/Adventure

Rating: M

Language: English

Crossover with Harry Potter.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned within this story. Thank you.

Pairings: AxelRoxas, SeverusHarry, RonHermione, DracoNamine

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King Mickey frowned at the man staring back at him in the frame of the mirror hanging on the wall of his study. Instead of seeing himself, in all his big-eared, mousey glory, he saw a much older male with long silver hair and beard and half-moon spectacles perched on his nose. "Gosh, I don't know, Albus. I'm sure they would be thrilled for the chance but I'm afraid it's just too dangerous. You don't know them like I do; they don't really play well with others if you know what I mean."

"I do understand, your majesty, but I'm afraid that these three have very little chance if we cannot get them to safety, and soon. Their powers are unfathomable and, if the wrong people get their hands on them first, they could be very dangerous. I understand that one of them is the Destined One of your universe? Then you can see my concern. Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort in my world, has heard rumors of these three and their abilities from Xeanhort himself. With the defeat of Xemnas, Voldemort will be even more pressed to obtain their powers for his own use. And I worry about the outcome if the three will not go peacefully."

"I'm more worried about what will happen if they do." Mickey's frown deepened as he flipped through a large book on his desk. "The loss of three Nobodies is not that important should they be destroyed. One of them," he added, "is already floating timelessly in the Purgatory of Endless Twilight. I would rather that he stayed there, if you know what I mean, Albus. Nobodies are really dangerous. You don't want them running around your school."

Dumbledore's usually untouchable smile slipped a notch at the prejudice being shown by his long-time peer, King Mickey. "Your Majesty, that is exactly _why_ I want them in Hogwarts. If they're dangerous in school, imagine how much worse they could be out." He leaned closer to his end of the mirror, trying to sound imploring to the two-foot-tall squeaky toy. "King Mickey, I really want to see these three have a chance to expand their abilities. It is not fair to limit their future because of their past."

"Well," Mickey murmured, trying to think up a really convincing reason for why this _shouldn't_ take place.

"Please. Just let me speak with the three of them. If I can talk to them one-on-three, I'm sure we can make an agreement that will be for everyone's benefit. Or are Roxas and Naminè still bound to their other halves?"

"They are, but… Ansem the Wise had a way of separating Nobodies from their others without compromising the true selves," he admitted, wishing that he had destroyed the odd machine when Leon had first revealed whispers of its existence. "But I'm not sure how safe it is. And getting Axel back from the Purgatory of Endless Twilight will be almost impossible without the most powerful wizards to help us. It is very difficult to bring anyone, even a Nobody, back from the dead, Albus."

"Which is why I have already taken the chance to talk to Master Yen Sid and ask if he would be able to help should the two of us reach an agreement. He has found the perfect rift in the Purgatory of Endless Twilight with which to pull Axel out without disturbing the rest of any of the other Nobodies, even the members of Organization XIII."

Realizing that he was stuck, King Mickey let his head fall, ears drooping. "Very well, Albus. But I would like to be present when you speak to them. I don't want them finding out just how powerful your magic is until I'm sure that they will not use it against me."

Frowning at the very Minister Fudge-like response, Dumbledore nodded. "I'll agree to that. If it is acceptable, I will be in your castle tomorrow evening to speak with Misters Clearwater and Axion, and Miss Lalane."

"Not here!" Mickey responded quickly, "The World That Never Was. Nobody Castle. It's much safer for a meeting with three Nobodies. I won't have them in Disney Castle."

"Very well, Your Majesty. Tomorrow then." Dumbledore nodded before cutting the link between their mirrors.

Mickey glared at his own reflection where it had taken the place of the other man. "This isn't good, Pluto," he told the dog resting in the corner of the room. "I wonder how we're going to handle this. We can't let those three get a magic more powerful than that of the Keyblade Bearer. But Sora is too trusting and would let them do whatever they wanted. I seem to be backed into a corner here, ole pal."

He sighed and realized that he only had one real option left to him. "Chip, Dale," he called over the connection device, "prepare my Gummi ship, please. I need to take a quick trip to The Radiant Garden."

"Going to visit Leon and Cloud?" Chip - or maybe Dale - asked in his rattling voice.

A slight smirk crossed the mouse's features. "Something like that."

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"Ooh! My ribs," Axel complained as he sat down in the high-backed Organization XIII chair that had been dragged into Xemnas's study for him to sit in during the meeting. The shirtless Nobody was bandaged around his arms, chest, and left leg from the damage he had taken in the final battle he'd fought at Sora's side, looking like he more belonged in Halloween Town than Nobody Castle.

Roxas frowned and leaned over, helping Axel adjust enough to get the pressure off of the two most broken parts of his skeletal system. Naminè, too, carefully helped Axel get situated into his seat, feeling immense pity for the ailing Nobody. "Are you going to be okay to go anywhere banged up like that?" Roxas inquired of his best friend, knowing that, if Axel had actually complained, the pain had to be almost maddening.

"Don't worry, kiddo," Axel replied, a bit of weary mirth in his voice as he ruffled the wild blonde spikes. "I'll be fine soon. I just can't go around pulling crazy stunts like I have in the past. None of that assassinating evil clone-making pedophiles or teenage prodigies with computer complexes."

Naminè laughed a bit tersely, remembering all that had taken place in Castle Oblivion. At the inquiring look on Roxas's face, she leaned over and took his hand in hers. "You're better off not knowing," she explained, knowing that Roxas would accept her words even if he didn't exactly like them.

Before the blonde male could comment on how much he disliked being left out of the past his two closest companions shared, he was interrupted by the appearance of King Mickey and an elder man they had never seen before. His wild clothes reminded them of Yen Sid or Merlin, however; they quickly surmised that he was the wizard 'Dumbledore'.

"Hello Roxas. Naminè. Axel. Do you mind if I call you by your first names, just for this meeting? Time is quite short right now."

The three shrugged. "We can't really claim to have last names anyway," Roxas added, "we just borrow them. …I think. Axel?"

"Don't ask me, kiddo. Elliot and I never quite saw eye-to-eye, if you know what I mean. I think he thought I was a little unbalanced." The red-head laughed at his own sake, knowing how bad that would sound but still finding it amusing when he remembered how Elliot had talked down his nose to him, only for his other to take his own life on a knife's edge two months after Xemnas had used Axel's own powers to seduce him into the Organization.

At least he had left Axel their body.

"Yes, well. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The three of you have been chosen to attend my school, barring your refusal of course, and I'm here to discuss this with you. I know the situation is a bit odd, with your situations, but I would still like to see you three get the type of magical education that wouldn't be as readily offered to you in any world but London on world Earth."

"What kind of magic are we talking about here?" Axel inquired, crossing his legs at the ankles.

"A very, very powerful kind. This magic is not elemental as is yours, Axel and Roxas, nor as limited as yours, Naminè. This magic is less convenient simply for its reliance upon a spoken spell and a magic wand. However, once mastered, this magic-."

"Is very similar to that of Sora," Mickey interrupted, not wanting the three to know just how great their new abilities would be. He sent Dumbledore a warning glance, asking as much as demanding that he move on.

Roxas sat forwards next. "Why are we only finding out about this now? From what His Majesty told Sora, we would usually be accepted at age eleven, not two sixteen-year-olds and a-."

"Above sixteen-year-old," Axel interjected.

"… right."

"Well," Dumbledore started, smiling at the intuition of the boy who was obviously the leader of the three-person posse, "that is normally the case. However, none of you had come into your magic by age eleven - Sora's did not arise until age fourteen, Kairi's age sixteen, and Elliot's never had the chance to - and it would have been suitably pointless to have you three studying magic that you couldn't use, yes?"

"True." Naminè tugged on Roxas's sleeve, getting his attention and pulling him closer to her.

"Ask what they're going to do about our getting us to Earth. I don't know whether Axel is strong enough to take all three of us through the darkness," she whispered.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Roxas?"

"Naminè wants to know if we're going to have to rely on Axel to get us to your world. It's not that we don't trust him," he added quickly, "but, as you can see, he's not in the best shape right now. It will probably take him a few days to get to where he can so much as walk on his own."

Reluctantly, Axel agreed with this assessment. While he was loathe to admit any weakness, he would rather not end up in The Radiant Garden with two powerful swordsmen, a ninja, and a sorceress ripping him to shreds. But, hey, that was just him.

"We have several ways to get you back and forth between your world and ours without relying upon the darkness. Teleportation Keys would be the easiest way for beginners, I believe. It will not be a problem."

"Where exactly are we going to be living while we're attending this school? I don't think we can move from here to Hogwarts every day."

"It's a residential school, Number IIX," Mickey told him. "You'll all three be confined to the castle there or one of the two cities that are under Dumbledore's control."

Dumbledore frowned at the wording of the king, as did Axel. "Not precisely. Hogwarts itself is quite the campus, the building almost the size of this world, and you will be allowed anywhere on the grounds, Hogsmede, or Diagon Alley, which are under the control of Cornelius Fudge, our minister. Perfectly acceptable stomping grounds, I assure you."

Roxas stared into the pale eyes of the old man, trying to read exactly what Dumbledore's intentions were. Was he on the side of King Mickey and simply trying to find a place with strong enough people to keep them locked up? If that were the case, why not just send him and Naminè to the Purgatory of Endless Twilight with Axel?

He could only see honest purpose behind the headmaster's eyes, communicating his disapproval of King Mickey's treatment of them, despite their pasts, and Roxas nodded slightly.

"Can we have a moment?" he asked, referring to himself and his friends.

"Of course."

All three stood up, Axel wrapping his arm around Roxas's neck, and walked over to the corner. "Well?" Roxas demanded. "What do you guys think?"

"I think that this is a load of bullshit, myself. Man, if Xemnas were alive to see this, he's have a coronary! We have our own bodies now! We aren't tied to the Organization or our other halves. Let's not voluntarily submit ourselves to the rules of an ally of _His Majesty_."

"I don't think that this kind man is an ally of the King's, more like an unwilling equal. He seems to think more highly of us than the King, anyway. He doesn't talk down to us. And did you notice that the King would interrupt him every time he almost said something that he didn't like?"

They looked to their leader for the deciding vote, knowing that, even if they had voted the same and Roxas different, they would do as he decided. "I'm… with Naminè on this one" - Axel let out a long sigh - "because I don't think that we have anything to loose by at least giving it a shot. Earth has managed to stay out of the War for Kingdom Hearts so far and I think we would be a lot safer there than around here where Nobodies are subject to a 'kill now, ask questions never' thought process."

"Or, we go to a place where no one has learned to fear the power of Organization XIII and are killed within the first week," Axel argued, "and I am _not_ going back to the Purgatory of Endless Twilight. Ne-ver! Got it memorized?"

"As long as we play it safe, you won't have to. No assassinations, no heroics, no memory-rearranging. Besides, Axel, you're overlooking one thing here. Maleficent! She isn't going to be too happy to hear that we're back, and the Heartless will come after us unless we're in a world that they don't know of. Like Earth."

Axel seemed to consider this. Finally, he sighed. "Fine. On the condition," he added louder, "that we can take our weapons with us to protect ourselves. I'm not ending up a shish-kabob just because you're paranoid, old man."

Dumbledore smiled at the brashness. He rather liked all three of these characters and how well they fit together. It was almost comical. It reminded him of the Golden Trio; Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He wondered briefly if the six would become friends. "It's a deal. If you three will come over here, we can take you right to Diagon Alley to get the things you will need for school this year!"

The trio stepped up and each grabbed hold of the plastic bag that Dumbledore pulled out of his robes at his urging. "On the count of three, now. One. Two."

"Bye, Your Majesty," Roxas commented, quickly, looking at the tense expression on the mouse's face, realizing for the first time just how unhappy this whole situation was making him.

King Mickey didn't reply.

"Three." Suddenly, something sharp like a hook caught Roxas on the back of his nose and jerked him forward, into a noisy whirlwind of sound and blending colors. He tried to screw his eyes shut, only to realize that momentum had pinned the lids upwards.

"I really don't like this, I really don't like this!" Axel bitched, Naminè crying out with little whimpers to show her mutual displeasure.

"It's almost over," Dumbledore informed them, "when we get to where we're headed, I'll summon someone to help you three get your school things together. The munny you three have from Xemnas's treasury has been exchanged into our money, Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, and everything you need can be found in one shopping strip. You'll be staying at the Leaky Cauldron until school starts and take the Hogwarts Express with your classmates."

"Yes sir." Suddenly the whirlwind froze and Roxas felt himself fall with a muffled 'thud' onto the ground, the same occurring for his two friends, Axel protesting the loudest at his jostling.

"Sorry about that," Dumbledore apologized, "but the landing is never easy. Now, why don't the three of you check in to your rooms and I'll send someone to help you within the hour?"

That was the first time Roxas noticed that they were in an inn, where no one seemed to question the sudden appearance of four people into the middle of a crowded room. "Oh, yes!" Dumbledore stated quickly, "I almost forgot something. Epoch Revertium."

He pointed a wooden stick at Axel who burst into a puff of purple smoke before appearing as he probably had years before, at age sixteen. "That ought to do it!"

"Waa?" The red-head blinked quickly, trying to find a mirror to see exactly what the man had done to him. Naminè pulled one out of her silvery purse and handed it to him, Axel staring blankly at his own reflection.

Roxas couldn't help but stare. Axel had been a near-permanent fixture in his mind since the two had met and 're-met', and it was interesting to see a younger version of his best friend. The wild red spikes had remained the same, if not a bit more droopy around his ears, and the tear-shaped tattoos under his eyes showed up against the almost sickly pale skin, bandages almost falling off of Axel's lanky teenage form - obviously sixteen for him was still pre-growth-spurt.

"Ah. Swathe Reductio." The bandages refit themselves to Axel's bare chest. "Perfect! Now, play nice, you three. Don't let anyone pick on you, etcetera. I'll see you three at school." A loud crack emitted as the aging wizard teleported away, a vague smile on his lips.

Roxas just stared at the spot where he had been. "That will take some getting used to," he admitted to his friends, who nodded their agreement. "So… check in?"

"Yeah. Hopefully Dumbledore already paid for our room, though. I have, what, 150 munny?"

Naminè shrugged and Roxas rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I don't think that's enough."

"Ya think?" Roxas walked up to Axel, who was still hurt despite the change of appearance, and let the red-head lay his weight against his frame, noticing how much less awkward their movements were when Axel was shorter. The three walked up to the man who stood behind the counter polishing a filthy, dirt-covered glass.

"Excuse me, sir?"

He turned and a small, toothy grin broke out. "What can I do for you, pretty miss?"

Axel and Roxas both turned a warning glare on him as Naminè blushed. "Is this where we can find out where we're staying? We were told to check in."

"Yep, yer at the right place. Name's Tom. Anything ya need, just ask me. You three'd be Clearwater, Axion, and Lalane, wouldn't ya? Rooms 102 and 104. Adjoining but lockable. Dumbledore thought you'd like that better."

"Ew," Axel teased, "I have to share a room with you?"

Roxas growled playfully and pinched Axel's fat-free side. "You'll room with me or you'll sleep outside, you spoiled little bastard."

"Icky options!"

Naminè laughed quietly at her companions and took the three proffered keys. "Thank you, Mr. Tom."

"You're quite welcome, pretty lady."

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**Yes, this story starts out with an AxelRoxas friendship, but it won't stay that way for long. Just wait until Roxas has to re-bandage Axel's bare chest, then you'll see what I mean _wink wink_. And, yeah, Mickey's the bad guy. Cause Kingdom Hearts would have been so much sexier without the talking animals….**


	2. Chapter 2

Forever Your Fire: Chapter Two

Wow… I'm way happy that people like this fic! Do you know how many times I tried to start this one, only to realize that it was no good and wipe the slate clean? I was killing myself over this puppy! So thanks to my reviewers!

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"This is so bizarre," Axel muttered, staring into the glass mirror pinned up on the wall, poking and prodding his own face trying to get used to his own childish reflection. "I haven't looked like this since before I joined Organization XIII," he commented, reaching down and untying the wrappings around his chest. "… Damn!"

"What is it, Axel?" Roxas asked, turning sharply from where he had been separating out their drawer space for the next month until school started, or so said the portrait in the room.

The red-head glared angrily down at his own chest, blaming it for something that had gone wrong. "I'll never understand this place. I'm still banged up from the fight before I died, yet I don't have any of the… personal changes I made after age sixteen."

A blonde eyebrow shot up, Roxas turning around and looking at the pale expanse of Axel's chest, from his broad shoulders to the dip into his black pants. "What did you have done?" he asked, lightly, hoping that Axel would not be mad that he could not remember the specific details of his friend's decorations.

"Well… let's see! I had this-!" he reached down and traced a spidery finger around the left, pale peak, "nipple pierced, a phoenix tattooed on my back." Suddenly, Axel laughed. "You nicknamed him 'peepers' because you said it always felt like it was watching you whenever I took my coat off."

Roxas blushed and tried not to wonder just how often he had seen a half-naked pyromaniac. "Sounds pretty cool."

"I certainly thought so. Guess I'm just going to have to get them re-done," he announced, smiling widely in his cheek-tightening way. Roxas returned the grin, more than pleased to finally be reunited with the memories of his best friend.

"So…," Axel began, drawing the word out to its maximum length. "Since I'm still hurt and all… fix my bandages?"

Roxas chuckled at the false-simpering of Axel's tone. "Sure, why not."

"Thanks, Kiddo!" The red-head wavered lightly on his feet and took the wrappings, dropping them on his friend's lap and almost sitting on him as he flopped down on the bed in front of him.

Taking the stretchy swathing, he pulled it taught before putting one end just between the two defined muscles of Axel's chest, keeping the bandage tight as he moved it under one of his arms. Roxas couldn't help but notice how much worse Axel looked as a teenager. Not less attractive - Roxas was a big enough man to admit that, if he were gay, Axel would be HOT - just… unhealthy.

His long, pale arms felt like skin and bones in Roxas's working hands, pliant only because he didn't seem to have the strength to resist him. His hair, hanging limply in front of Roxas's face, was a bit less enticing than usual. Roxas almost had to wonder. "Axel? Are you sick? I mean, were you sick? As a teenager?"

To his surprise, his friend jerked clean away from him, all of Roxas's work being undone. "What makes you ask something like that?" he asked, a bit too quickly. "Of course I wasn't sick. I'm the undefeatable Axel. Got it memorized?" Yet, despite the usual haughtiness of his tone, there was none of his usual energy behind it.

"Look, Axe, I'm just-."

**Knock, knock, knock.** "Roxas? Axel? Can I come in?" The blonde interrupted himself, pausing abruptly, somehow knowing that they could finish that conversation without Naminè around.

"Come on in, Little Sister." Naminè slipped inside, the white sundress settling around her knees.

"Oh, Axel," she admonished softly, taking his arm and sitting him down, "you've taken off your binds. Here, Onisan, let me help you."

Axel made no move to protest as she helped him, not seeming to notice the things about Axel that Roxas had, not commenting on his brittleness. "All done," she chirped, softly, a few minutes later, taking the clasp and pinning it just under Axel's ribs.

"Thank you, Sissy!" He turned around and put a hand on her cheek, leaning up to press his lips onto her forehead.

Something dark and foreign shot up Roxas's spine as he watched the two, recalling in a mental voice that sounded much like Sora that the emotion was called 'jealousy'. He was jealous when he watched his best friends kiss, even just a peck on the forehead. Luckily, the touch did not last long.

"Okay, that was enough incest for today, thank you very much!" Both blondes laughed at their 'big brother', knowing exactly what the usually-older boy meant. "Hey, are we supposed to just hang out here forever, or what? I thought Dumbledore said that he was going to send someone for us."

"He did, yeah. Maybe we should get ready to go? Our hour's almost up. I wouldn't want one of our future teachers seeing Axel's half-dressed self."

"You're just jealous 'cause 'm sexy!" Axel purred, arching his back like a cat, bottom pushing out and hips rolling. A moan bit itself back in Roxas's throat, watching a tiny bit of pain shoot across Axel's features as pressure shifted forwards on his ribs. "Ooh, that's enough of that." He smiled tiredly at Roxas, winking an emerald eye teasingly.

"_Axe… what are you doing?" The red-head laughed, slipping the black trench coat off of Roxas's shoulders, sinking his teeth into the collar-bone hidden beneath. "A-ah. Axel… ooh." The blonde shoved his fingers into the wild locks of red hair as the pink muscle slipped past painted lips onto his heated flesh._

"_Good boy, Roxas. You know you can't resist." Axel ground himself down into Roxas's crotch, arching at the contact, snaring one perfect lip between pearly teeth…._

"Roxas?" The blonde jerked, realizing that his two friends were staring at him. Axel stepped forward and pressed the back of his wrist to his forehead. "You okay, Ro? You spaced out big time, man."

"I'm fine," he replied, batting away the hand and the _fantasy_ running through his head. _'Straighten up, Roxas! You aren't a fucking faggot!'_ "I just got lost in my own mind, right?"

"As usual," Naminè teased, gently.

Just as Roxas was about to retort, the painting hanging in their room perked up to life. "Excuse me, but I was given a message for you."

Roxas turned to the pretty girl, painted posed innocently on a throne that seemed meant for a dark, evil queen like Maleficent more than this sweet, shy princess. "What is it, Morgana?" he asked kindly, glad that Axel had taken the time to ask the painting her name.

"Um, a man downstairs sent me up to fetch you. Said that Headmaster Dumbledore sent him. Is this right?"

"Yes, thank you." She nodded and eased out of the chair, walking back downstairs to her own field of flowers. "So…," Roxas commented loosely, "you guys ready to go?"

Axel grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair and slipped it on, leaving it unzipped to cause less damage to his sore body. "You're gonna have to help me, guys. Gods, I'm getting sick of this already. You'd think, with all of this magic of theirs, they'd know a good Curaga or something!"

Roxas made a soft sound, feeling guilty. "Sorry, up until now, magic was Sora's thing. Naminè?"

"The cards won't listen to me well enough to allow me to put a spell on someone else," she admitted, taking the deck and slipping it into her handbag, at least wanting to have a handful of Diamond Dusts and One-Winged Angels in her easy reach.

Roxas pinned the key chains for Oblivion and Oathkeeper to his belt-loops, throwing Axel his shurikans, watching them shrink down to a pair of rings that Axel slipped on his two pointer-fingers. "Let's go," Roxas said, leaning down so that he could pull the thin, pale arm over his shoulders and easing Axel up off of the bed.

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"That the guy?" Axel asked, looking around and eyes being drawn to a figure in a long black cloak staring out the window, stirring a swizzle-stick into his gin. "Looks like an ally, anyway. Figure he speaks Nobody?" he joked, fingering his own trench coat collar with a grin.

"Either that or an enemy. You wanna be the one to approach him?" Roxas asked, slipping an arm around Axel's waist and hoisting him up so that he would be more equal on his shoulder. "Let's go together. Naminè, step back a bit." The girl happily complied, remembering the similar attire of Marluxia and Xemnas, not bothered by Axel just because of her love for him.

Axel tugged his arm away from Roxas almost stumbling before he managed to balance on a table-top. He waved off his siblings' concern. "Don't worry about me. I can't reveal myself to a possible threat hanging on Roxas like a dead-weight. If he _is_ an ally, then Dumbledore should have told him that I'm a bit… handicapped right now."

The blonde agreed no matter how reluctantly and moved so that he was walking slightly in front of Axel so that he wouldn't have to see his friend limping against a table. "Excuse me?" he inquired, resting his forearms on the back of a chair at the man's table, "but would you happen to be here waiting for the three of us?"

He paused in his stirring and turned his head, black hair spilling like ink over his shoulder. Roxas almost smirked at the hooked nose, wondering if the man would be offended at being called 'Master Xemny-face'. He decided not to risk it.

"I am. You must be Clearwater, Axion, and Lalane." The man stood up and towered over Roxas, gazing down his long nose at him. "Would this be correct?"

In that second, Roxas made a few quick assumptions about this person. First of all, this man was used to being listened to. He was used to people hanging on his every word and having his orders followed immediately. Secondly, he was used to using his very presence to intimidate people. He stood as tall as he could when he talked to someone younger, moving elaborately to keep his dark outfit billowing. Thirdly, this man was submissive to _someone_, else he wouldn't bother with these tactics.

"It would be. I am Roxas 'Clearwater'. 'Elliot Axion', and Naminè Lalane," he added, motioning to each in turn. "Well, you know our names. What are we to call you, sir?"

"You can call me professor. Professor Snape."

Roxas nodded his head. "Nice to meet ya."

"We'll see about that," the man replied, coolly. After a moment, he turned to Axel, still resting against a high-backed chair. "Headmaster Dumbledore said that you can't walk on your own, or was he mistaken?"

"He wasn't," Axel answered, running a hand through his hair, "I just didn't want to make introductions from over Roxas's shoulder." Finally content that this man was a friend and not a foe, he let Roxas have his way and the red-head was shifted back onto him.

"Not a bad policy," the man commented, getting up and dropping a few silver coins on the table before turning towards the back door, motioning that the three should follow him.

Roxas let Naminè grasp onto his upper-arm as they walked, Axel reaching out with his fingers and mussing the sunshine locks. "Smile, little sister! This might be cool."

She turned to the wild-cat and smiled brightly, nodding happily. Roxas's own grin waned and he squeezed Axel's wrist too tightly, ignoring the protest that came in the form of a muffled complained as he walked them faster, Naminè almost slipping in her flip-flops as she tried to keep up with his stride. "Wait for me, Roxas," she objected, managing to hook a slender finger into the back belt-loop of his jeans.

Snape stood leaning against a brick wall out behind the Leaky Cauldron, a frown on his lips. "I won't be seen with you three walking around Diagon Alley like that. For goodness's sake girl, get your hands away from Clearwater's pants! And you, Axion, can you not even stand on your own for half-a-second?"

The corners of Roxas's lips turned up. He liked this guy! Believe it or not, he thought Snape was cool! The beady glare he could do without, but the attitude reminded him of pre-Purgatory Axel mixed in with a little bit of Saïx.

"Oh, here. Drink this, boy. It will numb the pain for a few hours so that you can at least limp along." He removed a vial from inside of his robes and tossed it to Axel, the glass clanging against the metal of his rings.

"Thanks, Sir," Axel said, surprised. He twisted open the lid and tipped the flute to his lips, swallowing the pink liquid within. He almost spit it out. "Oh, ew! That's nasty!" he complained, scraping his tongue against his palate like a cat with peanut-butter in its mouth.

The professor actually smirked. "Yes, the taste is rather appalling, but you'll be feeling the effects of that promptly I think."

Roxas turned to his best friend, surprised when Axel nodded. "I already am." He pushed off of the blonde's shoulder, steadying himself just incase he would fall. "Gotta admit," he commented, "you wizards sure have some fast-acting stuff. I don't think I've even seen a Curaga work this quick."

"A what?"

"Healing spell," Naminè whispered, "Highest royal order. Only allotted to those aligned with The Keyblade Master - Sora, Donald, and the King himself. We Nobodies have had our power stripped away by our 'deaths', yet Xemnas, Marluxia, and Vexen managed to entrap the powers of Sora's Keyblade inside the cards created from the essence of Twilight found in Castle Oblivion. However, the cards do not trust me and will not allow me to do magic. Roxas cannot control them at all, and Axel has only the Bond of Flame under his control."

The black-haired man looked entirely confused by her explanation, and Roxas had to hide his smirk behind a raised hand. "Basically, we couldn't have done anything for him. So we owe you one for our 'brother'."

"I'll call you on that later," the man commented, prodding Axel to take a few steps forwards to make sure that he could walk before he went over to the brick wall, tapping out a number of slates until the wall actually folded open, a place large enough for them to walk through. "Oh, and Axion? Don't push yourself. That's more of a glamour than anything. So don't stray."

A flitter of the old Axel crossed his features and Roxas could see the flare of his nostrils at being ordered around, but he finally let out a sigh. "Got it memorized, Sir."

"Well enough. Now, follow along quickly! I don't have the time to dally with a bunch of children during my summer vacation." Snape turned sharply and Axel shot Roxas a look behind the man's back.

'_For the love of God, Xemnas was less of a stick in the mud. Maybe he needs to try the proven method of giving Saïx a good fucking over Xaldin's desk.'_

'_And asking him to join in when they're caught,'_ Roxas finished, smiling as he remembered a specific incident from his past in Organization XIII.

However, it was Axel who reminded him how it ended.

'_I don't think Teach over there would appreciate getting a knee to the balls as gracefully as Xemnas did, though.'_

'_True!'_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. And, yes, now we'll be getting more into the Harry Potter stuff. I just had to get the AkuRoku sexual tension out of the way so that it wouldn't seem as random when it did pop up. Also, **reluctant-mentor** Snape. Not a Nobody-molesting Snape. If you want a pairing Snape, read the pairings warning in the first chapter.

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"That's Flourish and Blotts, Florean Fortescue's - you won't need to know those. Olivanders, for your wands-." Roxas walked quickly as he tried to keep up with his professor, wondering if this was what it had been like for Nobodies and Heartless to chase down Wisdom Form Sora. If so, he felt sorry for them.

"Sir, would you mind kinda, you know, slowing down? _I_ can barely keep up with you, and I'm not in flip-flops or covered in bandages." Naminè reached forwards and managed to grope onto Roxas's hand, breathing heavily and a flush across her cheeks. "See?"

Snape turned and glared at the blonde who had dared to interrupt his tour of Diagon Alley. "If you can't keep up, then I suggest you find someone else to take you around."

Roxas made a disinclined sound. "Well, Sir, did Dumbledore not tell _you_ to be the one to help us? Of course, if you want to abandon us to be all on our own in a foreign city, I'm sure you're boss won't mind." In response to the beady-eyed daggers sent his way, Roxas gave a haughty look.

"Very well. We'll have to go to Gringots, first."

Axel leaned forwards and put his hand on his friend's shoulder, nuzzling the spiky blonde locks until his lips were almost against the sea-shell ear. "That was pretty good, Ro. Seems like you've made a fan!" Roxas batted away the hot breath rushing over his ear and blushed, turning away from him with anger. The red-head laughed and threw back his wild shock of hair.

"Yo, Bat-Dude Sir? Uh, I hate to be a downer - I just like to take them - but King Big-Ears isn't going to like the thought of having to pay for me to go to this school. In case Dumbledore forgot to tell you, I'm not exactly His Highness's favorite person, and I don't have Sora or Kairi imploring on my behalf."

An angry twitch had developed in Snape's eye. "First of all, _Mr._ Axion, you will call me 'Professor', 'Professor Snape', or 'Sir' - no variation. Secondly, I don't ever want to hear you talk about being on drugs again. If you were, the potion would not have worked as well, and jokes like that are not as funny as you think they are. Finally, a Lord… Xemnas? will be paying for your education."

Even Naminè's bright eyes went wide. "Sir, Xheanhort is dead. Riku and Sora killed him a few months ago. I don't think dead men pay bills."

"No. But, as the only two surviving members of Organization XIII, Axel and Roxas get everything belonging to… any other member. Most of it was brought here from your Castle when Xemnas fell. I think you misunderstand Dumbledore; he did not want your King taking everything away from you."

Roxas tried to bite back a frothy response, but he realized that Snape was probably right. "Well… thanks, then. It's better than having to dance on a sidewalk."

"Dude, street performers!" Axel started to bob his hips back and forth, thrusting sharply with his arms and a sexual look crossing his face.

Naminè giggled and applauded, pulling forward her silver handbag and digging for 'spare change'. The other blonde, however, blushed. "Oh, for God's sake Axel, stop acting like a whore!"

Suddenly, true pain shot across his face and Axel collapsed, clutching onto Roxas's trench coat.

"Should I have mentioned that the potion is not very strong? Just because you can't feel the pain doesn't mean that it isn't there. And your little dance just over-stimulated the nerves. Hurts, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I don't have enough potion on me to give you more than _one more swig_. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir." Naminè took the vial and tipped it to the painted lips, letting the wild-cat drink the foul tasting liquid. "Ugh, that stuff is so nasty. Reminds me of Demyx's cooking." Unwillingly, the blonde boy chuckled.

"Indeed. Now, come along." The man led them to a large building with a heavy, engraved door. Roxas read the warning against any thieves who might venture inside and raised a brow. _'Well,'_ he thought, _'I guess that's one way around springing for a security alarm.'_

"Holy shit!" Axel commented, poking his head inside, "they're short!"

Roxas muttered a, 'what the hell?' as he looked inside and saw the exact subject of Axel's outburst. "Goblins? Jeez, why not just have a bunch of Neoshadows serving shakes at the drive-in? This is ridiculous."

"I wouldn't say that in front of a goblin, Clearwater. Goblins tend to be less than kind when it comes down to it." Snape produced a box from the inside of his robes and walked up to the counter, staring down his nose at the odd little creature. "I'm here for Organization XIII's savings. I assume you've managed to find out how much munny translates to galleons and sickles?"

"Oh, yes. I'm quite surprised how few it was, too. It seems that these three," the goblin rasped out, looking at the teenagers, "are quite the rich little children. Of course, as the fortune is theirs, they are welcome to it and anything else that Dumbledore stored back there. As long as they have their keys?"

At this, the professor looked uncomfortable. "We have ten of them, but three are mysteriously missing. I'm hoping that these three have the final Keys of Organization Nobodies." He looked at them and Roxas shrugged. "Depends on what they are."

"Headmaster Dumbledore wasn't sure. He said that you would know if you saw the others. Which suggests that we need to see the vault."

The goblin gave them an angry look, only for his glare to be easily outdone. "Very well. Come this way please."

After a life-shortening ride on a railcar, the group stood in front of a marble door engraved with the symbols of the Nobodies. Each member had apparently contributed a key to their financial storage.

Xemnas had supplied a bracelet shaped like black lightening, Xigbar a gun-shaped earring. Each member's contribution was very much like their weapon, Demyx's a glitzy guitar belt-buckle. "Does this make any sense to you?" Snape asked them, eyebrows shooting upwards.

"Yeah. Just a second." Roxas took the twin key rings and crossed them in the X-shaped slot under 'XIII'. One of Axel's rings under 'VIII'. "That's odd," the blonde boy commented, running his fingers over the final missing key-slot. "The only one still missing is Marluxia's. Now what would he have to hide?"

"Nothing at all, Ro," Axel answered, turning to his 'little sis'. "Naminè?"

Blushing, she stepped up and reached into her handbag, pulling out a medal with a scythe engraved on it. "He gave it to me after Sora went to Twilight Town. I managed to keep you two from finding out about each other then, and he thought that I should be rewarded for it. He wore it on a chain around his neck."

Realization lit up behind the red-head's eyes. "Oh, yeah, I remember that now! He and Vexen got into a physical fight and, when he shoved Vexen, he grabbed it and pulled it clean off. The chain snapped though."

"That's right." She slid it into the circular slot and the door slammed open, revealing a huge pile of sparkling, golden coins.

"Woah… This… I like-y!" Axel stepped right inside and made his way to a large, oak trunk, snapping open the lock. "Hey, Ro, remember this?" He pulled out a stained-blue glass ball with a red flame insignia on it. "Man, this thing is two years old! You remember, don't you?"

Roxas frowned, trying to recall the memory, thinking to himself how much Axel seemed like the same one that had appeared to him in Twilight Town. "I think…."

"_Cold, kiddo?" Roxas looked up, startled, as the tall, graceful adult - for he seemed that much older to Roxas - sat down next to him, staring out over The World That Never Was. "It's oddly chilly tonight. Oh, here! This'll help." The two black rings on Axel's fingers scraped together as his hands ran across each other. A hot flame lit up in his in his hands and the red-head held it out for him._

"_Don't worry. It won't burn you. It wouldn't dare. Seriously, try it." Weakly, Axel reached out and held the flickering fire in his hands. "You can keep it, you know. Not gonna burn out. It's your flame. Forever. Your flame; it'll only burn when you hold it." _

Axel walked around in front of him, leaned down and winked. "So don't loose it, kiddo."

Roxas reached out and took the orb, ignoring the stares as he held it carefully in his fingers. "I do remember. You gave it to me the first night Xemnas brought me to The World That Never Was. Saïx took it from me and never gave it back."

"Well," Snape said, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, "anything in here is yours. Take it if you want."

"I will." Roxas slipped the orb into his pocket, feeling the warmth against his hip.

"_What are you doing, you freak!" Axel laughed and began to rub his groin into Roxas's side, biting with the sharpest teeth into his earlobe, causing a sluttish moan to slip out._

"_Be good, Roxas. And keep quiet." A gloved hand slipped over his mouth as Axel scrunched his eyes shut, rubbing off on the little blonde's hip-bone. "Ro…."_

"Roxas! What the hell is up with you, kiddo! This world. This one! Not whatever one resides under that blonde hair of yours; this one. Got it memorized?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Roxas replied, crimson coating his features. Axel rolled his emerald green eyes as Naminè giggled, looping her arm through the 'middle sibling's'. "Silly Roxas." He smiled at her, eyes slipping down to her chest nestled into her white sundress. _'I'm not gay! I'm not a faggot! I don't have a thing for… Axel!'_

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"So this is where we get our robes for school?" Roxas asked the black-haired professor, looking into the window of a shop, mannequins smiling and waving in the window. "What exactly do we have to get?"

"Three pairs of black robes, a black pointed hat, dress robes, and anything else that tickles your fancy. I'm assuming that you three can handle this alone? I was actually planning to get to the potion supplies next door. Else Dumbledore wouldn't have bothered me."

"I'm sure we'll manage," Naminè answered, kicking a pebble with her white flip-flops. "I'll keep the boys under control, Sir. We're sorry that we're taking you away from your responsibilities."

Snape almost smiled at the innocence of the frail little girl but managed to hold himself back. "You really do remind me of someone, Lalane. Oh well. You three be good." He managed a glance at Axel. "Keep an eye on that one."

"HEY!"

Roxas laughed, sharply, and grabbed the frail, pale arm. "We'll keep both eyes on him; God knows _he's_ the trouble-maker out of us."

"Oh, yeah, like you're so sweet and innocent, popsicle boy!" Roxas almost grabbed Axel's arm too tightly as he dragged him in the door, Naminè slipping in beside them. Immediately, a woman came out of the back.

"Here, now, three students then? Up on the stools you go."

The blonde blinked as he was all but herded onto a little wooden chair, standing shock still as a measuring tape moved through the air like a snake and took his size, a feather scratching the numbers out on a piece of paper.

"…I haven't seen you before."

Roxas yelped and almost tumbled right off balance if it weren't for the fact that he landed in Axel's arms. Turning, he saw another boy, more platinum blonde than anyone he had ever seen, leaned against the wall examining scarves.

"You wouldn't have; we're not from around here. New," he added, brushing off his trench coat. "Who are you?"

The boy paused and moved to face them, looking down his aristocratic nose at them. "Definitely not from around here if you have to ask. Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. And you are?"

Roxas frowned, not entire set at ease by the haughty tone or superior gaze, but aware that sometimes nice people seemed bad in the beginning. "Roxas Clearwater. This is my best friend, Elliot Axion - goes by Axel - and Naminè Lalane. It's nice to meet you."

"Of course it is," the boy responded, gaze barely flickering over Axel before it set on the girl, who smiled sweetly at him, shifting her bag up on her shoulder to shake the hand he shoved in her direction. "Pardon my saying, Miss, but you're quite pretty."

Naminè's face lit up and she gasped happily, blushing as she inclined her head. "Thank you."

"Hey buddy!" Axel interrupted, taking her arm and leading her away from Draco Malfoy, "Pardon my saying, brat, but you're quite fresh! Come on, Naminè; stay over here with me."

Roxas smirked at the addlepated look on the other's face. "Oh, sorry about him. He hasn't taken his medication yet today."

"Whatever. I don't do other dude's girlfriends."

'_That's right, pal; you keep believing that.'_ Roxas could barely believe that within a few moments of seeing each other, this boy dared to flirt with his little sister. He was quite proud of Axel's near-psychotically protective nature of those he cared for.

A few minutes passed as the three newcomers were poked and prodded, manipulated and wrapped by huge bolts of cloth. Finally, each had three robes and the hats and were just waiting to get dress robes. "What color are you looking for, Axel?" Roxas inquired, running his hands over a silken cerulean sash.

"Hunter or emerald if I can find it. You know," he leaned over the chair arm and blinked his eyes effeminately at Roxas, "to bring out my eyes."

The blonde laughed and shoved Axel in the shoulder. "Oh yeah, because everyone knows that you're just _so sexy_, I mean like makes-Sephiroth-seem-drab _sex-y!_" The two laughed, pushing and shoving, rough-housing about with Naminè giggling in the background.

"Oh, stop it, you two. No flirting!"

"Aw, why not!" Axel reached over and poked Naminè in the cheek, leaning forward to lick her forehead.

"Ew, you're gross! Icky boy!" Roxas could not stop himself from bursting into chuckles at the disgusted look on his little sister's face. When she turned around to wipe Axel's slobber off of her face, though, she revealed that he had interrupted her right in the middle of trying on a long, pleated dress. The zipper in the back was down to the subtle curve of her buttocks and Roxas's face turned crimson red.

"Um, Naminè, you're, um… well-."

"What the slack-jawed yokel is trying to say is that your underwear is showing. There's a zipper on the back." Naminè blushed and Malfoy stepped away from the wall, reaching down and resting the heel of his hand on her rump as he slid the zipper up her back.

Axel fumed, the rings on his fingers turning a heated red tint. "Watch it, bleach-boy. I've already warned you to stay away from my sister!"

The smart reaction would have been, they would agree in retrospect, to lay off before risking angering the 'big brother' of the small bodied girl being hit upon. Of course, Draco Malfoy wasn't the brightest crayon in the box.

"Oh, why don't you go back to whatever cave you crawled out of, plebian! How dare you call me 'bleach-boy', you red-headed hippie! Some of that hair gel must have leaked into your brain!"

"That's it! Now the cloak comes off!" Axel reached up and ripped off his long black trench coat, throwing it onto the chair and slipping off his twin rings. Malfoy looked like he didn't believe that Axel would actually do it, until a fist collided with his jaw. "You'll learn not to mess with me, pretty boy!"

"Axel, don't!" Roxas whined, realizing from the blood trailing out of Malfoy's nose that his warning came far too late. The spindly fingers gripped platinum hair as Axel slammed the boy's head against the wall, gripping the front of his black robes.

"You wanna keep it up, buddy? I don't think you wanna mess with me, right? No, I didn't think so." Axel let the blonde fall and walked back over to his chair, slipping on the two black bands.

However, that was not the end of it. "What's your problem?"

"Please," Axel scoffed, throwing back his wild shock of hair. "You're just jealous because I look like a rock-star!"

Naminè giggled and walked up to Axel, resting her manicured hands in the crook of his elbow. "You're such a bad boy, Axel. I can't even imagine what you'll be like when we get into school. Promise me that you won't get involved with fast drugs, and even faster women? It would just break my heart to see big brother acting like a crack-whore."

A flash of anger boiled up in Roxas and he was about to bark out at the two when Malfoy strode over and slammed his fist into Axel's stomach. Almost instantly, the pain shot through his broken ribs and Axel cried out, collapsing onto the ground. "AXEL!"

"That's it!" Roxas grabbed Oathkeeper and Oblivion, flicking his wrists and extending them into full-sized weapons, hooking the ends and crossing them before whipping out with Oblivion, cutting through the robes and first layer of flesh of Malfoy's chest. "You'd best get this through your head, spoiled brat; don't mess with me, don't mess with Naminè, _don't_ mess with Axel!"

"You tell him, Roxas! Got it memorized, bleach-boy?"

"Oh, Roxas! Put them away before someone sees! We aren't supposed to use our weapons except in an emergency! If that Professor Snape finds out, he'll be mad!"

Malfoy had ignored their conversation, running his hand down the thin bleeding cut. He had never seen weapons like those before, but he was not about to take such an injustice from a peasant. A hand dove into his robes and he pulled out his wand, holding it at the ready. "Constration!"

"Defense!" A quick motion with the twin blades blocked the beam from hitting him and he glared at Malfoy.

"What's going on in here!" the managing witch demanded, storming in with her hands on her waist. "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Clearwater! M-Mr. Clearwater! What are _those_?"

Roxas stared down at the Keyblades in his hands and shrank them back to their normal size, clipping them quickly to his belt and trying to look innocent. "What are what, ma'am? I didn't see anything."

"Those weapons!"

Malfoy took advantage of Roxas's distraction to cast a incapacitation spell in his direction. "Abilitation!" Roxas gasped as a sharp pain spread through his wrist and Naminè and Axel both moved to his defense, Axel leaning against the wall.

One-Winged Angel appeared in Naminè's fingers and Axel raised his ringed fingers. "Firetooth!"

BOOM!

Half of the shop went up in flames as Axel's most powerful technique collided with another kind of magic and they were all thrown out onto the street where people had stopped to stare at the unfolding, violent drama.

"HOLY SHIT!" A lanky red-head, though not as noticeable as Axel, ran up with two friends trailing behind him desperately.

"Oh my gosh, we need to get someone to help!" the girl insisted, grabbing onto the other boy's arm. "Harry!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The three Nobodies and Draco Malfoy all fell to the ground, bound by invisible cords. "Hey, what the fuck? Let us go!"

"Potter! Potter, release me this instant or I'll have you sued for involuntary confinement or something like that!"

"Oh, no, Mr. Potter." Roxas gulped, looking up as their guide and future-professor walked up, his own wand held at the ready. "Please, keep them like that. It will make it much easier to talk to them. And as for the rest of you; Obliviate!"

Snape grabbed Roxas by the shoulder, fingers digging in and dragging him away. "Granger, Potter, Weasley, get the other three. Oh, I can't wait for this conversation."

'_I can!'_


	4. Chapter 4

Wow, I started this chapter twice, believe it or not. I just didn't like the way it was going. Maybe because I wasn't ready to make The Golden Trio an _informed_ part of the plot? Bad enough that Draco's gonna over-hear some odd stuff when Snape rants at them…. So, yeah. Anyway….

Sorry for the time lag. School is almost over for me, and I'm busy as sin!

**Draco will be a little OOC, but, come on, most guys are when they're in love with a cute chick. And, don't worry, he won't stay OOC for long…. You'll understand later.**

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"Set them down there and get out," Snape told the three Gryffindor students, who were holding their prisoners at arm's length, the professor shoving Roxas down onto the bed. Axel was placed more gently than the others, even Ron's meager mind picking up on the fact that the boy was hurt. The pyromaniac twisted as best he could to rest against Roxas's chest.

Harry stared down at the group, dropping Malfoy unceremoniously onto the carpet. He had never seen students like these before, nor powers like the ones that had destroyed the robe shop. Could anyone short of a Death Eater caused that kind of destruction with a single spell? And they _were_ with Professor Snape. Had Voldemort sent them to attack Diagon Alley and something interrupted? There were too many possibilities.

"Professor?" he dared to inquire quietly, remembering that the last time the two had been together Snape had tried to bean him with a glass jar, "what exactly is going on? Who are they?"

"That is officially none of your business, Mr. Potter. Or can everyone's beloved Savior not handle being left out of the loop? Molly did say something about an _explosion_ last summer, or am I mistaken?" At the puffed-up expression of the student, Snape smirked. "That's what I thought."

"But professor!"

"Enough! Potter, Granger, Weasley, out! Wait," he amended, "Obliviate!"

In a split-second, Harry threw his arm up over his face to block the spell. Suddenly, a whirlwind appeared in his hand and he cried out, "Defense!" A quick burst of air countered Snape's wand magic and knocked Harry onto his butt, a squeak slipping out. Ron and Hermione let out a quiet cry as their memories were wiped clean.

The be-glassed boy stood up on unsteady legs and saw the blank, confused look on his two best friends' faces. "Um, Professor?" Hermione asked, raising a hand to her throbbing forehead. "What are we doing here? Weren't we just in the street outside the robe shop?"

Snape's lips thinned into a line before he opened his mouth to produce a lie that would explain away the events. "Yes, Miss Granger. Well, an accidental explosion just _destroyed_ said shop. The three of you were caught in the blast, along with Mr. Malfoy," he waved a hand towards the bound and gagged blonde boy on the bed, "so I brought you back here. But, as you can see, you're fine. So get out."

Harry opened his mouth to comment before freezing, seeing the blank looks in his friends' eyes. Snape really had Obliterated them! Did he honestly want to reveal that he still had his memory? He looked over at Roxas, green eyes meeting ocean blue. An angry flash appeared behind them and the blonde bit his own red-headed friend's ear.

Roxas knew!

"Potter!" Harry's head whipped around and he saw Snape pointing at the open door. "What are you waiting for, you infernal brat? Get out!"

"Yes sir!" he cried, scrambling for the door, feeling two pairs of frosty eyes staring at his back as he ran.

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"Are we in trouble, Sir?" Naminè inquired, kicking back and forth with her sandaled feet, looking anywhere but at the scowling Draco Malfoy.

"Gee, Miss Lalane, I wonder if you're in trouble. Let's think for a second. Mr. Axion and Mr. Clearwater got into a fight with Mr. Malfoy, revealed your shurikans and keyblades, _blew up a shop_! Of _course_ you're not in trouble. You're in Hell! Or at least you will be by the time I'm through with you! And what do you think Dumbledore will say when he finds out that Mr. Malfoy knows about your… special abilities?"

"Wait," Axel commented, waving a flame around his fingers as Roxas re-bound his ribs for the third time. "Why can't you just - **kaput** - no memory for him? I mean, you did it earlier, right? No one remembers that we blew the store up, right?" _'Well, except for that black-haired boy. I wonder why Roxas didn't want us to tell Professor Crab-ass.'_

"I'm afraid, Mr. Axion, that, as Mr. Malfoy's godparent, I am incapable of performing a spell on him if it would cause any damage to him."

"Then let Naminè do it! If anyone can do it, it would be her. I mean, you yourself said that our magic is at least as powerful as yours. A flick of the wrist, and this bleach-headed nimrod won't even remember his own name!"

"Axel!" Naminè cried, big eyes widening as she tugged at his black robes, "I can't do that! After I erased Sora and Riku's memories, and had to put them back together, I swore that I would only use my abilities for the best! Not just to keep your sorry hide out of trouble, Fire-Boy."

"'Fire-Boy'? That's it, Amnesiac!" He grabbed her and purposely ruffled up her blonde hair, causing her to shriek.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Roxas smacked the red-head as hard as he could in the shoulder. "Enough is enough." Once again, jealousy build up like a balloon being filled under his lungs. He grabbed the black robes and pulled Axel closer to his side, keeping _his_ red-head within arm's length.

…before he dropped the cloth, pulling his hand back like it burned. What was he doing?

Axel looked at him with a raised eyebrow, something odd shimmering behind his emerald eyes before he turned back to Snape. _'What am I thinking? He doesn't remember. And I'm glad he doesn't! Roxas likes Naminè, anyway.'_

"So wait. You mean she," Draco pointed a finger at Naminè, "can erase people's memories without a spell? And he," Axel, "can set things on fire? And what were those two swords! It's illegal for minors to carry weapons in public!"

"Calm down, Draco!" Snape hissed, quickly casting a silencing spell on the room. "You're going to cause a scene! Listen; these three are not from around here. They come from… another magical community, and they use weapons instead of wands. That's all. And the spells are silent, so you didn't hear them cast them. They're coming to Hogwarts this year so that they can learn our magic. Their magic," he added, "will be sealed by the time they've reached our school."

"WHAT!"

"YOU DIDN'T TELL US THAT!"

Snape glared at the two angry Nobody males. "Did we not tell you that?"

"You-!"

"I would watch my tongue if I were you, Mr. Axion," Snape warned, "as it is, you three have caused more than enough trouble. I have to go and see if I can fix the mess at the robes shop, and you three will be kept in your rooms until I get back. Draco, go home. Don't tell Lucius or Cissy about any of this, do you understand?"

"But Sev-!" The teen was cut off with a glare. "Yes, Severus."

"Good." Nodding, Snape turned, cloak billowing behind him, as he stormed out, muttering something about 'damn teenagers' and 'kill Dumbledore'. However, when he was far enough away, Draco looked at the group with an expectant look on his face.

"Well?"

Roxas blanched, rubbing the back of his wild spikes. "'Well'? Well what?"

"Are you going to tell me what Severus was hiding from me or not!" At the blanch on the three's faces, he frowned. "I'm not totally stupid, you know. I just want to know what the hell is going on. You guys nearly blow me to smithereens, set me on fire, and cut my flesh open, all because I flirted with the girl? Hell no! Tell me the truth, damn it!"

Frowning, Roxas took in the look of determination on Draco's face. "… Fine. It started like this…."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"That's the bookstore," Draco told them, walking the three to the door and past the bartering witches and wizards on the corner. "My father is on the official Hogwarts Committee, so I already know what our booklist says. We can go ahead and buy them without waiting for the rush."

Axel turned to Roxas and his look visibly read, 'Get a load of this kid! Who the Hell does he think he is?' For, when Draco Malfoy had been briefed on the situations of the past few years, Axel and Naminè filling in what Roxas didn't know, he had decided that it was up to him to help the 'newbies' get their bearings in the wizarding world.

If Roxas was perfectly honest with himself, he was kind of grateful for the blonde's help. After all, at least Draco didn't bite their heads off if they asked a question, like Snape had. "So, what exactly is this school like? Seriously, our King drags us to his castle, shoves us in a room with Dumbledore, we get teleported here, and… well, the rest is… you know, boom?"

Frosty eyes, a more sky blue than his own cerulean rolled. "I'm not a bloody moron, Roxas. You can say 'explosion' and I _will_ understand what you mean."

Naminè couldn't stop herself from laughing. She loved Roxas, she really did, but she loved it when one of the two Keyblade Masters got told! They were just so use to being in control. In retrospect, maybe that was why she liked Axel, Riku, and -believe it or not - Donald. They didn't let Sora/Roxas get away with _anything_.

Roxas, however, frowned. "Actually, I'd say you are a moron. Or are we forgetting that you just got lippy with the boy who almost turned you into filet? I still have Oathkeeper and Oblivion with me, you know. 'Oops, I'm sooooo sorry, Professor Snape; I didn't _mean_ to slice and dice the bleach-brain.'"

Draco huffed and crossed his arms, storming towards the bookstore door. "Excuse me!" he hollered, "is anyone actually working here who can help us? Or should we just steal everything we can get our hands on?"

"Welcome, _Mr._ Malfoy," the attendant sniped, walking out of the back with a sour look on his face, as if though he would rather do anything than serve the spoiled blonde boy.

"Wow, Roxas! This guy seems to like Bleach-Boy almost as much as you do!" Axel stated, loudly, grabbing onto his best friend's arm and bouncing up and down. Roxas started laughing, and light titters of mirth slipped out of Naminè, embarrassing the pure-blood that was trying to help them thank-you-very-much!

"Yes, well. My father gave me my book list early, and I would like to go ahead and get them, unless you want for me to go somewhere else." At the snarl of lips, Malfoy smirked. "I thought so. The books. Four sets, _please_."

Roxas, less-than-impressed with the spoiled teens who got the option to act like that - Saïx had been the worst, - turned away from the group and began to look all through the huge isles of full shelves, cram-packed with works of all difficulties. As he walked, he ran a gloved finger over the spines, feeling some of the books quiver under his touch. In fact, the furrier ones growled!

However, the texture of parchment under his hands changed as he encountered a glass case with a solid-gold lock protruding out of the wall. "Oh wow," he muttered, staring at the perfect set of four books, each covered in precious stones and metals. "These are cool! Naminè, Axel, come here!"

The two came running, Naminè with a new, never-filling sketchbook in her hands, and Axel with a pile of books that were all held so that the titles were not visible. "Check these out, guys."

"Awesome!" Axel stated, a chuckle to his voice as he ran his hand over the glass in front of one of the four. "Wonder what they are."

"Some kind of grimiore? Maybe. I'm guessing the glass means that we're not supposed to look at them, though. Shame," Naminè added, "they're pretty."

The other two nodded their agreement, heading back up to the front of the store where Draco was tormenting the fuck out of the poor clerk. "Did I _ask_ whether or not you had a special on binding? No, I very well did not! If I cared, I would have asked, right? Thus, just put the stuff in the bag, proletariat-boy!"

Roxas snorted and grabbed one of the bags, shrunk to fit in his pocket. "Oh for the love of god, Draco, leave the poor man alone! He has to put up with assholes like you all day long for minimum wage anyway. Why make his life more terrible than it already is?"

Draco snickered, leading them out of the shop. "So true. So sadly true. Anyway… lookit," he announced, flapping a crumpled piece of parchment in front of Roxas's face, "we're almost done shopping. Only a few more places to go. Olivander's - I'm sure you, Axel, will get a kick out of blowing things up," the red-head poked his tongue out, "and Magical Menagerie, if you want animals."

"Fuzzies!" Axel cried, clapping his hands rapidly. "Axel wanna fuzzy!"

The Keyblade bearer almost blanched at the statement.

"_You're such a good pet," Xemnas commented, reaching down and scratching lightly at the sensitive nerves behind one of Saïx's pointed ears. "So loyal and submissive."_

_Saïx groaned and lapped lightly at the gloved fingers, mewling like a kitten instead of his usual purring tone. His long, pale hair spread out around his form in a curtain as he sat on his knees in front of The Superior's throne. Roxas tried not to stare as Xemnas picked Saïx up like he weighed nothing and sat him in his lap, hand disappearing into the fold of black robes._

"_Damn it," a voice behind him complained, "I'm sorry, but Superior-Cat-Boy-cest just doesn't do it for me, you know?"_

"_This from the king of Happy-Go-Lucky, Get-Mauled-By-A-Fuzzy Land," Axel sniped, wrapping his arm around Roxas's waist and pulling him away from Xaldin. "What's your damage anyway, freak? Is it the fur or the big, wet nose?"_

_Xaldin's usually calm demeanor turned murderous. "Fuck you, Axel!" he snarled, the air around them swirling up into a wild whirlwind. "I'm gonna kick your ass!"_

"_Back off!" Roxas snipped, pointing Oblivion right at Number II's nose. "In case you've forgotten, Fuzz-Slut, Axel's ass is mine!"_

"ROXAS!" The blonde jumped as a black-gloved hand waved right in front of his face. "Jeez, kiddo! What the hell is your problem, huh? Come on, okay! I'm getting kinda sick of this mess! Remember? You promised you'd stay in this realm!" Axel grabbed Roxas and shook him. "I'm worried about you, okay?"

"I'm sorry," Roxas whispered, blushing as his friend leaned even closer. "I'll try not to space out anymore. But I can't help it, sometimes. I start seeing the most disturbed stuff…. Maybe my mind's going hay-wire now that I'm separated from Sora?"

He watched the red-head's face for any sign; what the hell was going on? He wasn't a faggot! What the hell was he thinking about Axel for! He liked girls, damn it!

Axel, however, frowned and pulled away. "Yeah, well, stop it, will ya? It's starting to piss me off."

Roxas tried not to comment as the redhead walked away, emerald eyes flashing. '… what the hell is going on!' He followed Axel to Olivander's where Naminè was stumbling over apologies, trying to re-stack a pile of boxes. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Olivander, Sir! Really, I'll clean it up!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, My Dear. Worse things have happened, I assure you! Why, Mr. Malfoy here set my curtains on fire! It was quite the spectacle!"

"Wow, maybe we _should_ be friends," Axel commented, slinging an arm over Draco's shoulders. "I love fire, you cause fire… perfect!"

"Please," Roxas spat, sitting on top of the only clean desk in the whole store. "You're enough of an accident waiting to happen on your own."

Axel glared at him, color lighting up his cheeks. Roxas couldn't help but feel smug. 'Yeah, that's right. He's just a friend. We fight and make-up as friends, but that's it. I'm not gay!'

"Oh, here, Miss Lalane! Try this wand! I think you'll find that it works well for you! 11-and-a-half, maple with a hippogriff feather. This one is very special, though. Not only do hippogriffs very rarely give feathers, but, well… this hippogriff was lame. One-winged little thing. Beautiful, strong thing, but helpless."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at the similarity of the creature to his little sis. "Try it, Nammy. What can it hurt but the shop. Or Axel. Yeah, do something mean to Axel!"

"Hey!"

Draco laughed, actually _laughed_, before handing the box to Naminè. "Go ahead and give it a shot. I had no idea that I was going to get Veela hair until it was the only thing that worked for me. …Didn't know I was eighth-blood, either." He shrugged. "You learn something new every day."

"Well, okay then," Naminè said with a smile, taking the proffered wand. Roxas tried not to roll his eyes. 'Still getting fresh with my sister, and he's got a scar telling him not to. Bleach-boy has balls, anyway.'

Their argument over, Axel stepped up beside Roxas and leaned back on the edge of the desk. "Think it'll work," Axel asked him, shoving his fingers into the wild red spikes. "Hope so. I can't wait for my turn." He leaned closer to Roxas and breathed into his ear, causing shivers to race up and down the blonde's spine. "By the way, sorry about earlier. It's fucked up that I have to go through puberty twice. I get moodier than a chick when it falls down to it."

"'Cepted. Shouldn't have gotten mad at you anyway. It's just… these memories, if that's what they are, are freaking me out, you know? I mean, this is the kind of stuff that makes me wish I was less imaginative," Roxas answered, airily. He kept waiting, waiting for any sign from Axel that what he was thinking was just a load of crap, but Axel frowned.

"Whatever. Watch Naminè, huh? Gotta make sure she doesn't hurt anything." 'Okay, this is starting to piss me off! Every time I get an entry, he says it's disturbed or whatnot. Fuck him, then!' Axel crossed his long legs, ignoring the inquiring look from his best friend.

Naminè waved the maple wand with a flick of her wrist, praying not to cause something to explode. Instead, every box on the floor picked up into a neat pile and almost every speck of dust in the front room disappeared.

"Very nice, very nice. I'm glad that wand works for you, Miss Lalane. But it will be a bit finicky. Keep it polished, young lady; you don't want an angry wand."

"Yes, Sir," Naminè whispered, pulling the wand close to her chest, already fond of it. The corners of Draco's lips turned up and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well!" Olivander said, clapping his hands as he looked at the two cloaked boys. "Who's next?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

**SPOILERS:**

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

**Okay, here's what you readers can do to help me! I'm having trouble deciding who to stick where. So! I'm going to give you a quick description of how I'm trying to write the characters. Please, please, help me to decide which house to put them in!**

**Roxas:**

**Spoiled as fuck. Seriously. Big-time inter-turmoil. A bit lippy, but generally a good kid. He'll get pretty popular for his looks. He'd do pretty much anything for his friends - accept making Axel feel secure in his Roxassexuality - but he also thinks about himself quite often. He stands up for the kids being picked on, and tells off the unfair teachers.**

**Axel:**

**Kind of cowardly in his own way. Mostly concerned with himself, Roxas, and Naminè. Sometimes Draco. He puts no bars on what he'd do for Roxas's sake, but he has a lot of demons to fight off before he can totally be himself. Until then, he'll be pretty bi-polar while he tries to figure out what he's doing. He has no qualms about using those around them as long as it is to the greater benefit, but he respects most of the figures that can actually seem like _authority_.**

**Naminè:**

**She's sweet and harmless. She also knows that Axel is in love with Roxas, and that the two were lovers. However, she's forbidden from telling Roxas anything - more on this later. In an effort to get her 'brothers' together, she'll use every resource available. She's open and honest, but also has an agenda of her own. The innocent one, she plays the good-girl well, but she can also be a schemer.**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Still don't own. So yea.

**Here are the results at the time of posting for who goes in which house!**

**Roxas:**

_Gryffindor: III_

_Hufflepuff:_

_Ravenclaw: I_

_Slytherin: I_

**Axel:**

_Gryffindor: III_

_Hufflepuff: _

_Ravenclaw: II_

_Slytherin: I_

**Naminè:**

_Gryffindor: _

_Hufflepuff: II_

_Ravenclaw: III_

_Slytherin: I_

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"I'll do it," Axel agreed, easing himself to a standing position. A grunt slipped out as his shoulders were shoved back. "What do you think will work for me?"

"I wonder," Olivander answered, immediately digging into piles. "Something pliant, I'm sure. You seem a bit… exuberant." Axel puffed up at the properly-interpreted insult. "And strong. How long is your wand arm?" he asked the air, another tape measurer attacking the red-head. "Perhaps over a foot; you're rather lanky, aren't you?"

Roxas smirked as a confused look spread over Axel's face, as if though he was trying to decide whether or not 'lanky' was a slur. Olivander handed the redhead a thin wand and Axel waved it, cautiously.

**Crash!**

"Not that one, then!" Olivander stated, ignoring the shattered shop window. "No worries, no worries. Everyone has a bad first try." He dug through a couple of boxes. "Though, judging by that reaction, I would avoid trying another unicorn hair. I was afraid it would be too effeminate, but I had to try it." Olivander shrugged and handed over another wand.

That one blew up a stacked shelf.

Draco couldn't help but laugh as Olivander went back to digging. "Just can't keep away from the destruction, can you? What are you planning to blow up next?"

Axel stuck out his tongue.

"Oh, here. 12 and 9, oak and a phoenix feather. A bit testy, but it should agree with you rather well. Try it."

Axel accepted the wand and gave it a quick flick of the wrist, expecting another accident to occur. Instead, all of the damage was undone. "Cool," he muttered.

"Yes, excellent! Now, don't try to use that until you get to Hogwarts, Mr. Axion."

"Wah? You didn't give a warning like that to Naminè! Why does everyone assume I'm the bad one!"

"Because you are, Axel. You so are." The redhead made a face at Roxas.

"Then you try it, tough guy!" Roxas shrugged and stood up, exchanging a little 'secret handshake' with his best friend. He crossed his arms expectantly as he waited for Olivander to hand over the first test.

- - - **I'm sorry to interrupt, but I would like to take this moment to say that, as of now, I am no longer a student at my public high school! _Cheers!_ **- - -

"Try this, Mr. Clearwater. 9, oak and phoenix feather. This one is a bit sarcastic, though. Be careful." Roxas shrugged and took the wand, giving it a quick flick of the wrist. Unsurprisingly, it exploded in between his fingers.

"Nice one, Roxas," Axel mocked, sliding his perfectly-even teeth under a fingernail.

"Go to hell, Axel," the blonde responded, grabbing another wand, maple with unicorn, and giving it a swish. **Boom!** "Eh-heh-heh." Roxas rubbed the back of his head, dropping the wood. "You didn't need that head, did you, Draco?"

The bleach-blonde blinked, stunned, at the sparks that had come from the firework which had exploded inches from his nose. Naminè laughed and reached out to pat him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Draco. I promise; they aren't picking on you on purpose." Draco rolled his eyes. "Promise! They're just really protective of me."

"Why?" Draco inquired, turning up his nose. "I doubt it's worth trying to set me on fire for. Twice!"

"Actually, the first time was because you were being a pain in the ass to Roxie. And, if you haven't noticed, that's grounds for death around us." Axel winked and messed with his spiky hair. "Well, anyway. Go on, Kiddo! Blow more stuff up!"

"Yeah, encourage me, why don't you?" Roxas murmured, picking up another wand. "This one looks promising," he mused, pointing it at the curtains and giving a twitch. Nothing happened. "Well," he said with a little smirk, "at least this one didn't-." **Bang!**

Axel fell off the desk, laughing hysterically as he wrapped his arms around himself. "Oh, my ribs! I'm gonna bust a gut!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Axel," Roxas groaned, wiping the green goop from his face. 'Can this get _any_ better?'

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Roxaaaaaaaaaaaaas, I'm growing roots here! Come on! Just pick one and let's go already!" Axel complained, rubbing his sore ass. "Seriously, do you know how uncomfortable a desk is after _three hours_?"

"Well, I'm sorry! It's not like I'm not getting sick of looking at the same walls, too!" Roxas snapped, throwing down his nth-billionth wand to try. "Mr. Olivander, is it possible that I'm just not cut out to be a wizard? Maybe I don't have the same kind of magic as Axel and Naminè."

Olivander chuckled and cleaned up some of the wands that Roxas had tossed away in fits of frustration. "Come now, Mr. Clearwater. Dumbledore wouldn't have sent you here to get a wand if you couldn't use one. But," he added, "perhaps you _are_ on to something here. Maybe your magic is different than theirs."

The store owner pulled out his own wand and flicked it, a few boxes of very different sizes coming out of the back. "Here, Mr. Clearwater. Try some of these."

Roxas shrugged, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Naminè had fallen asleep on Draco's shoulder, her breaths ruffling his hair. "If these don't work, though, I'm going to come back tomorrow. Naminè's tired, Axel's bitching, and I want food, damn it."

Axel chortled and twirled his own wand in between his fingers in movements perfected by years of handling his weapons. "Some of those seem pretty weird, though. Good enough for a freak like Roxas, but still. Don't hook him up with anything too freaky."

The blonde reached out for a box and pulled off the lid, finding a scepter inside, the end twisting into a spiral of blackened wood. "Ah, that is a nice choice, of course. No swishing and waving necessary. Go ahead, my boy. Give it a try."

Roxas shrugged. "Okay then. Hmm… how to work this thing… Sora said something about pre-genie Jafar, but I wasn't around then…." The blonde puzzled over the magical item in his hands. "Oh… well, I guess I might as well give it a shot. Um… Blizaga? Firaga?"

A rapidly growing shard of ice appeared in the vortex of the staff before a burst of flame melted the frozen water, turning it back into a liquid form. "Uh-oh," Roxas murmured. "This could be bad." Suddenly, the bubble grew to an immense size, floating over the head of the scepter. "Uh… Bad, bubble! Bad!"

Axel stepped back, pulling out his shurikans and setting them ablaze. "Roxas! Now would be a really good time to get the water _away _from the fire-user! Seriously! Water and fire don't mix; got it memorized? Kiddo, I'm not joking anymore," he added, seeing the large bubble floating towards him. "I don't like water!"

**Sploosh!**

The red-head twirled his weapons, panicking, and sliced through the column of water, which was entirely ineffective. Axel began to back away from the splash, tripping onto the floor. Draco and Naminè had woken up and Draco was trying to shrink the giant bubble.

Roxas just stared, blankly. Axel's chest heaved up and down as he stared, emerald green eyes huge. Normally, the blonde would have laughed at the look on his best friend's face, but the panic was a lot less humorous.

"…," Axel panted heavily, "ROXAS!"

"Freeze!" Roxas jumped in front of Axel and crossed his Keyblades, casting his very first blizzard spell. The bubble stopped right where it was and collapsed to the ground, shattering. He spun around. "Are you okay, Axel?" Every bit of weirdness between the two friends practically evaporated right before their eyes as the red-head lurched forwards and gripped onto Roxas's robes, shivering. Roxas laughed softly and stroked the wild spikes. "Yes, it was pretty odd wasn't it?"

"Hate water. Don't like water. Water evil," Axel whimpered, knuckles white.

Naminè reached down and buried her fingers into the red-hair. "Let me take him, Roxas," she whispered, dislodging the clamped fingers and pulling Axel's head to rest on her hip. "Hate water," he complained again. "I know," she comforted, "I know."

Roxas turned on Olivander, eyes sharp. "We're done here," he told the man. "We're taking Axel back to The Leaky Cauldron. I'll be back to finish this tomorrow."

"There's no need," Olivander answered, shaken. "Did Dumbledore not tell you? If you can channel magic through a Keyblade, a wand will do you no good my boy."

"… How do you know what the Keyblades are!" Roxas demanded, pointing Oathkeeper at the man. 'Get ready, Naminè,' he thought, chancing a quick glance and seeing Axel insistently slapping Malfoy away from him.

"Calm down, Mr. Clearwater." Olivander looked reflective. "Yesterday, someone came by, asking me if I had seen these weapons. I told her that I hadn't, but she insisted that I look at them to be sure. She showed me pictures" he added, pointing to a desk bursting with papers.

The three Nobodies exchanged looks. "May we have them?"

"I don't see why not, Mr. Clearwater." Olivander summoned them with a twitch of the wand. "She called them… oath or something?"

"Oathkeeper and Oblivion," Roxas informed, looking at the pencil sketches of his weapons. "They weren't looking for Keyblade users. These two, only? They were looking for _me_. Naminè! This is serious. No one is supposed to know we're here. If someone came buy yesterday, that means… either Dumbledore or King Mickey told someone where we are." He pointed at Olivander. "Please, Naminè. We need… an intervention. Please."

The blonde girl sighed and stepped up, motioning Roxas and Draco back. "Axel, you remember how things go, right?" He nodded. "Take them out of here. I'll be done… soon."

"You got it, Nammy." He shooed the two out, smacking Roxas on the butt when he tried to stop and look back.

"But what is she doing, exactly? I never actually got to _see_ it!"

"She has to… rip that guy's memory apart. Every memory works together like a chain-link, so she has to replace the links you want him to forget - this mysterious person - and replace them with altercations to real memories. Like how she replaced Kairi with herself. She couldn't create memories, just alter them."

Draco froze, digging in his heels. "What!"

Axel rolled his eyes, massaging his temples. "Okay, …," he sighed, "look, it works something like this-."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Naminè walked up to the table in The Leaky Cauldron where the three boys sat, Roxas and Axel getting their first tastes of Butterbeer. "All done," she informed, quietly, letting Draco stand up and pull her chair out for her. "As far as Olivander is concerned, you had a magical staff, similar to Sir Donald. And someone dropped by to ask about a birch cane; the pictures burned up in another kid's accident."

Draco blanched as he waved over another drink for her. "Sounds kind of intense. Are you sure that kind of thing isn't illegal? I could ask my father about the specifics," he added.

An attendant walked up to them with another round of Butterbeers on a tray, staring at the group with trepidation. Roxas raised a golden eyebrow at her and she blushed, stuttering, "Your drinks, Mr. Malfoy."

"Goodie, now go away. Anyway," he returned to the Nobodies, paying the waitress no never mind at all, "you guys are so lucky that you get to stay here until school starts. I have to go back to The Dragon's Lair for the next few weeks. I hate living there. You guys have no idea what it's like to be locked in a bloody huge house and feel like you're the only person still there."

"Uh, hello?" Axel leaned forward and thumped him on the head, "I don't suppose the words 'Castle Oblivion' mean anything to you? How about 'The World That Never Was'? Talk about blank with a capitol 'B'. Didn't we just talk about this a few hours ago?"

"Right…." Roxas laughed at the put-out look on Draco's face. Apparently the boy had been trying to draw out some sympathy for his situation.

Naminè, however, placed her hand on Draco's shoulder. "Axel, don't be so mean! Sure, we were stuck in the castles, but we had the rest of the Organization. Even when we didn't want them. And, before _you_ went out looking for Kairi, we had each other."

Simultaneously, Roxas and Draco faked gagging noises. Even Axel rolled his emerald green eyes. "I didn't want you either, chicky. _I_ wanted my oh-so-cuddly little porcupine-with-attitude, also known as Roxanne!" Axel reached out and looped his arm around Roxas's shoulders, dragging the boy out of his chair to rest on his chest.

Roxas could feel Axel's ribs through the black cloak he had thrown over him, the bandages protruding at some places from the day's wild activity. The gloved hand in his hair was actually comforting and he had to admit that, even for a fire-user, Axel's embrace was rather warm.

"_Roxas," Axel groaned, running his hand insistently through the blonde locks. "God, you're so good at this." Roxas looked up with his cerulean eyes, smirking as he continued to apply a light suckling pressure onto one of Axel's nipples._

_The red-head leaned down and pressed his forehead to Roxas's, shoving gently and receiving no resistance as he knocked the naked blonde onto his back, the fluffy bed breaking his fall. "Axel…." A leather coated thumb ran across his bottom lip as the other shucked off the robe that was still hanging off of one shoulder._

_Finally, finger by finger, Axel removed his gloves, pulling at them with his teeth. "Chill out, kiddo. What are you so nervous for? This is me, remember? What reason would ya have to be scared of me? Hell, we both know that you could probably kick my ass."_

_With that, Axel leaned down and kissed Roxas firmly on the lips before his hand began to trail down over the younger boy's chest, past his navel and down in between his thighs…._

"AH!" Everyone burst into laughter as Roxas let out a surprised shriek and shoved off of Axel, only to land, face first, on the floor. "Owwwww!" Axel threw his head back, not realizing that his friend had been spacing out _again_. "That hurt."

"You're so fucked up, Roxas," Axel chided, grabbing the back of his robes and hauling him back onto his own chair. "What the hell is your problem lately, huh? You've been spacing like… that damn were-elf or something."

Draco turned to look at Naminè who was holding her Butterbeer against her lips, hiding a smirk behind them. _'Forget Axel. He said that I can't tell Roxas, but didn't say anything about fixing up that scrambled mess that Roxas calls a brain.'_

He began to ask her what the hell was so funny, when the noise level in The Leaky Cauldron dropped to hushed whispers.

"Da-amn! And I thought Saïx had elegance. Check out that guy; do his feet even touch the fucking floor?"

Roxas took another sip of his drink before turning around to see an older man, probably even in his forties, with long blonde hair, tied back by a black ribbon, surveying the room out of frosty eyes. His features were drawn and elfish, almost handsome were there not a rat-like air around the man. Roxas continued to stare at him. The man almost looked like-.

"Oh shit," Draco breathed, shoving the bottle away. "Guys, I gotta go now." He attempted to slip away from the table unnoticed but the man caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to them, walking over with distinct, purposeful steps.

"I've been looking for you, Draco. I thought we agreed to meet at the entrance to Knocturn Alley almost an hour ago."

"I'm sorry, Father," Draco replied, eyes darting a bit. Roxas watched as the other boy began to shred a napkin in his hands, rolling each strip into a tube before moving onto the next.

"So, aren't you going to introduce me to your new friends?" the man asked, not waiting for an invitation as he sat down at the table, folding his fingers under his chin and staring intensely.

"Ah, yes." Roxas took in Draco's nervousness with a raised eyebrow, filing the information away for later. For family members, there was no love-loss between the two. "Father, these are Roxas Clearwater, Elliot Axion - he goes by 'Axel' - and Naminè Lalane. Guys, this is my father, Lucius Malfoy."

Lucius Malfoy nodded, not even bothering to show his interest. "Clearwater, Axion, and Lalane, hmm? I'm not familiar with those family names. How long have your families been practicing magic?"

Roxas gave the man an incredulous look. "Who knows. Sora is the only one from my 'family' that has _ever_ done magic, as far as I know, which isn't much. Naminè? Axel?"

"I think my aunt was a Seer. Am I certain, no. But something was written about it in the library of The Radiant Garden. Cloud found it when he was trying to find anything Ansem the Wise may have known about Lord Sephiroth."

"Don't ask me. 'Suffar as I know, I'm the only one. _Special_," Axel added, quirking his fingers in quotation marks. "Maybe Xemnas - pardon; Xehanort - would know."

"Probably, but I don't think it's worth waking him up from the dead to ask him."

"No. No it isn't. Especially with all of the damn work it took to kill him off in the first fucking place."

Naminè laughed, blushing as Roxas glanced over and winked at her. However, Lucius Malfoy made a discerning sound. "Draco, come. Your mother is waiting at home; we're having Crabbe and Goyle over for dinner tonight."

"Yes, Father." Draco stood up and reached out, taking Naminè's hand in his own. "It's been… very nice getting to know you, Naminè." He kissed the back of her hand. "And you, too, Axel. Roxas. But I think we'd be better friends if I _didn't_ kiss you guys' hands."

"No kidding," Axel muttered, reaching out and drawing Naminè back into his lap. "We gonna be seein' ya around, Draco?"

"Probably. … See you at school." The two Malfoys stood up and Lucius put his hand on Draco's back, practically forcing him out of the door.

Naminè protested and shoved herself away from her 'brother'. "You're so weird, Axel." Suddenly, she gave a big yawn, a smile on her face. "Does anyone else think that this has been way more than enough excitement for one day? I'm going to bed." A quick kiss to each boy's cheek. "Good night."

"Night, Nammy."

"Sleep well. We should go to bed, too, Axel. We still haven't finished all of our shopping. We need potion supplies, stuff for _divination_, and the 'fuzzies'. Besides, I'm sooo fucking tired."

Axel laughed and headed for the stairs, taking strong, confident steps, cloak swishing behind him. Roxas watched with a slight flutter in his chest at the insistent movements of his best friend. As he walked, Axel bobbed his head gently, shifting back and forth, loosely.

'Get a hold of yourself, Roxas! You aren't a faggot! You don't like Axel! He's doing perverted stuff like this on purpose, just to get a reaction out of you! Keep your wits about you!'

"Yo, Roxaaas. You comin' or what?"

"Be right there!" The blonde threw a handful of coins onto the table, paying for Draco's drinks as well. Then, he ran up the stairs, a smile on his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Ya, ya, still don't own.

**Okay, I've decided to take this moment to send some major love out to some of my reviewers. These few have actually taken the time to review almost if not every chapter, and they are my inspiration for pulling up Microsoft Works Word every morning and working until Fresh Prince of Bel Air Block Party is over.**

**Sarah Pixen1**

**Albino Auqaminer**

**Ice Wolf Demon**

**Ai no Miko500 - _I'll have a little surprise for you in a later chapter, but I can't say what yet _**

**Yo-Sama**

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_Roxas smiled as he sat out on Saïx's balcony, a cigarette in between his lips. The were-elf had retired not long before, murmuring something about bed sheets and elephants. Axel groaned and leaned over his legs, head flopping down onto Roxas's thighs. "I love nights like these," the red-head muttered, "Xaldin always gets the best pot."_

"_You're stoned, moron," Roxas informed him, leaning down and kissing one of Axel's ears._

"_Mmm, nah. I'm just a little… down. And who are you to talk, anyway, kiddo? You were going at it before I even got up here." The two shared a quiet laugh, staring up at the heart-shaped moon. Even thought Roxas never admitted as much, he loved those nights, too. Mind in a cloudy haze, Axel sprawled out, spiky hair flat from the day, a cool breeze blowing away the last billowy wisps of smoke._

_Axel reached up and unzipped the blonde's jacket, sliding it off. "Oh, Ax, not now. It's going to get cold out here."_

"_Don't worry, Kiddo." Axel slipped down his own coat's zipper, revealing that he was naked underneath. "I'll keep you warm."_

_Roxas grinned and shoved his hands under the heavy black material, stroking Axel's hips and pressing down on the sensitive dip in the bone, Axel making an appreciative sound. "What's up, brat?" He held the jacket open, the ring through his nipple reflecting the silvery moonlight. "Wanna come in?"_

_The blonde smirked, licking Axel's neck. "Don't tempt me."_

"Hu-uhhh. Ugh… … ooh." Roxas woke up from the deep mist of a good-night's sleep, hearing the most disgusting sounds coming from the bathroom that was tucked in the back of their room. He rolled over, almost on the edge of his bed, and saw that the door was cracked, light spilling out over Axel's bed, which was empty. Groaning, Roxas stood up and wrapped the blanket around himself for extra warmth. The cart from where they had ordered a plate of sandwiches sent up had to be rolled against the wall before he could cross into the bathroom.

"Axel?" He poked his head inside to see his best friend, bare but for his boxers, sprawled out over the toilet seat, tears trickling out of his eyes and blood on his lips. "Axel!"

"Roxas," the wild-cat breathed out, panting as he reached up weakly for the handle. "I'm sorry I woke you up. Go back to sleep, kiddo." Axel turned his head and smiled, but it was weak and he turned back to the bowl, shoulders lurching forward as he made a squelching sound in the back of his throat.

The blonde leaned down and stroked the wild red spikes, rubbing his best friend's back, feeling his spine through the taught pale flesh. "No way. I can't just leave my best friend in here, sick, can I? What kind of friend would I be to _you_?" He walked up and saw that Axel had been very, _very_ ill while he was off in la-la-land. Roxas was suddenly glad that he had a very strong stomach.

"Let me flush this away," he murmured, pulling on the handle as Axel let out a weak groan.

"I'm sorry," the red-head whined, reaching up to the sink where he had placed a damp rag to wipe his sweaty face off with. "I didn't mean to get sick. I guess dinner upset my stomach or something."

"It's alright," Roxas comforted, sitting on the edge of the bathtub so he could talk to Axel. "You actually woke me up from a pretty weird dream, you know. … Axel, did we do _pot_ in the Organization? I dreamt that the two of us were on Saïx's balcony, dead stoned."

Axel shrugged. "We did a lot of stupid stuff. Pot - that was more Xaldin's thing, but it was a favorite for us. Larxene drank like a fishy… oh, god. Seafood." Axel leaned further into the toilet, making a gagging sound.

Roxas just laughed, a bit tersely, realizing that he could have actually been having a memory from the Organization instead of just dreaming because of the way the red-head was thrusting his hips earlier? He shook his head rapidly. "You okay, Axel?"

"My throat hurts so fucking bad, I think I'm going to die. Do you _know_ how nasty I feel right now? Could you order up a glass of ale or something? I gotta wash this taste out of my mouth."

The blonde scratched Axel's scalp with his fingernails. "Poor Axel." He draped his quilt over the bony shoulders and his friend smiled back at him, closing his eyes weakly.

"Thanks, Rox. Seriously, though, I don't want you staying up; there's no need to. I don't think I have anything left in my stomach anyway."

"I still don't want to leave you alone if you're ill. You'll have to throw me out of this room if you want me to leave. Let me stay here at least until your stomach feels better, okay? It'll make _me_ feel better."

"Fine, fine, fine. But, when I say go, you go. Got it memorized?"

"No way! Knowing you, you'll lie to me and say you're better just so I'll leave, and then I'll get pissed at you and we'll fight, and where's the fun in that? I'll go to bed when you do."

Axel opened his mouth to argue before he turned a pale green color and rested his head on his arm. "Better plan on ordering coffee in the morning, then."

The blonde smiled, still a bit dreary from sleep, and pulled Axel closer to him, letting the ill Nobody rest his head in his lap. "Mm, just a second, Roxas." Axel reached over and picked a bottle up from off the counter and slipped it into the medicine cabinet.

"What was that?"

"I was hoping it would calm my stomach," the red-head responded shortly. Roxas smirked and pulled Axel back onto his lap, petting the wild spikes. "I guess these potions don't work as well as I'd hoped they would."

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"Good morning," Naminè greeted the two, quietly, as she bit down on an egg-biscuit. "No offence, boys, but you look like hell."

"No kidding. I've been up all night praying to the porcelain goddess. Something must not have agreed with my tummy. Roxie, though-," Axel ruffled his blonde spikes, "didn't have to be up. He _didn't want to leave me_. So he slept sitting up against the wall."

"Aw, my poor brothers. I'll bet you're hungry, Axel, with your empty stomach, right?" She held out the plate of breakfast that she had ordered for herself, only for the red-head to reach out and snatch it from her fingers, immediately popping a piece of ham into his mouth.

Roxas smirked as he sat down at the table, motioning for more plates to be brought. "Glad to see that someone has a big appetite this morning. Hopefully breakfast will sit better with you than dinner did; I may love ya, Ax, but I'm not staying up _two_ nights in a row to listen to you gagging."

"Jeez, Roxas, you're so damn loving," Axel complained around a mouthful of grits.

"Gross, Axel!"

"Swallow your food first, you disgusting little beast!" Axel just gave Roxas a blank look over the bowl of porridge that he was tipping down his throat. Roxas tried not to look with blatant disgust - or amusement - at Axel's table manners.

"_For the love of God, Superior! I know you're entitled and what-not, but do you have to do that at the table?" Xemnas turned a reproachful glare on the youngest member of Organization XIII as he cupped Saïx's head in his hands._

"_I'll do as I damn fucking well please, Number XIII. In case you've forgotten, your own words so much as say that I'm your better, and I don't answer to the likes of you."_

"_Hey, I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that you've all but made me loose my appetite. I mean, last thing **I** wanted to see in the morning is the were-elf on his hands and knees with **drool** all around those ass-kissing lips, but it that's what does it for you, I'll just come back and eat later!"_

_Xemnas looked like he was about to protest when he let out a shaky groan, Saïx letting out a muffled protest, managing to pull away from the Superior and coughing deeply, a few drops of white falling onto the floor._

_Roxas did his best not to look as disgusted as he felt as he walked out of the room, black cloak swinging behind him. When he slammed open the swinging door to the kitchen, he almost hit Axel, who was bounding towards the nearest source of food, cloak barely half-on his body. "Morning, lover," the blonde greeted, leaning up and pecking Axel on the cheek._

"_Good morning! Xaldin said that someone was cooking in there. You think they'd mind if I snagged any of their breakfast?" Startled, Roxas clapped a hand over his heart, knowing that he would have just about had a heart-attack if he could have, trying not to laugh at the predicament of his companion._

"_Somehow, I don't think Xemnas would mind too terribly."_

"_Cool. Hey, you were just in there! Was he having sausage for breakfast! Mm, sausage and bacon and-."_

"_I'm sorry to say, Axel, that **Xemnas **was having no such thing."_

_The red-head shrugged. "Oh well. Toast it is, then!" He leaned down, kissed Roxas on the forehead, and practically floated into the next room. 'Oh for the love of God….'_

"Roxas?" The blonde jumped, seeing a plate practically being shoved under his nose. "You must still be tired; I've been trying to get your attention?"

"What is it, Naminè?" he asked, trying to ignore the food being held right in his line of sight.

"I asked, 'do you want any breakfast, Roxas?' Didn't you hear me?" Roxas blushed and reached up to shove the plate away. Naminè shrugged and returned the dish to its place; however, she sent him a knowing look from where she sat. He was about to ask her what the hell _that_ look was for, but Axel put his hand on his shoulder, interrupting.

"Yo, Kiddo, pass the gravy."

Finally, the red-head was full and had let his head lull back against the chair. "Okay… I'm done, now." To both blondes' surprise, Axel had almost cleared the table. "Man, I haven't been on a binge like that since Demyx was still around! He woke up in the middle of the night, bangs on my door, and asks me if I have any chocolate hidden in my room."

"What?" Roxas inquired, giving him an odd look and laughing.

"Well, you have to remember that Demyx was … not the same after Saïx slammed his head against the wall. Anyway, he wanted me to go with him to the kitchen since he was scared of the dark and - surprise surprise - Xaldin was up, sitting on the counter with a tablespoon and a carton of ice cream. He just kind of stared at us for a second, spoon half-way to his mouth, before shrugging and shoving the carton out at us. 'Want some?'"

Roxas tried to laugh, weakly, as he heard Axel laughing about some of the trouble he had gotten into, both with and without him, back in his own Organization days. Naminè piped in with a few of her own recollections of Castle Oblivion, one memory revolving around Larxene sending Axel into head-thrown peels of laughter.

A couple of people had turned to stare at the loud table, hearing bits and pieces of the conversation. Roxas was a bit less amused with some of the Axel-Naminè antics. In fact, when Naminè began to recollect a story about a prank they had played on Zexion, something dark rose inside of him. He was fucking jealous! "Guys, I'm not that hungry. I'm going to go check out some of the shops around here, okay?"

Axel paused in his mirth, leaning closer to his best friend for a moment. "You sure, kiddo? We could all go if you'll give me half-an-hour to take a shower."

"Don't worry about it, Axel. I'm not a baby." He stood up from the table, a frown on his lips. "I can take care of myself." Not waiting for the others to tell him 'goodbye', he walked out to Diagon Alley, hearing the two lapse into conversation behind him.

He continued to mutter as he walked along the street, stopping at each cart to check out its wares. One of the first ones was a stand selling beautiful jewelry that Roxas couldn't help but look at, simply because it was shiny things.

"Well, hello there, boy. You see something you like?" Roxas looked up into the face of the woman who was working, her clothes almost reminding him of how Sora and Riku had described Traverse Town's occupants.

Suddenly, he remembered the fire gem that Axel had made him - the one that he had recovered from Gringots - and handed it to the woman. "It's a bit too awkward to carry in my pocket. Can you put this on a chain while I look a bit?"

"Sure thing, kiddo-." Roxas winced at the use of Axel's nickname for him. "Easiest way would be to punch a hole right through the middle and string 'er through!"

Cerulean eyes went huge and Roxas almost screamed a protest when a young girl with sandy hair stepped out of the back, a pair of goggles, upside-down, around her neck. "Ma'am, if you don't mind my saying, I don't think that he would appreciate you drilling into an object he cares enough about to have strung up in the first place."

Relief spilled through Roxas like water. "Yes, I would very much _not_ appreciate it. I guess that means there isn't anything I can do with this," he commented, holding out his hand.

"Ah, that's what you would think, isn't it?" the young girl asked, airily. "But, if you don't mind, ma'am, I know of something that might make it easier to carry and make it look quite good, if I do say so myself. May I?" she asked, holding out a notebook.

The blonde was reminded somewhat of Naminè, though the blank look on this girl's face made her seem a bit less… intelligent. "See here? Ma'am? Could we try something like this?" Roxas leaned over to see, but the shop's owner grinned broadly and grabbed the paper.

"Sure thing! Be right back, kiddo." Roxas just stared, jaw agape, as the woman disappeared from plain sight.

'Wow, at least Xigbar was less creepy about it.' "She isn't going to hurt it, is she? It was a present from my best friend, a long time ago."

The girl smiled, mistily. "She was going to, but I got the feeling that would be a bad thing. Oh! I almost forgot - I don't know you." Her eyes glazed over. "You are new, then. But not a first year. How odd."

Roxas bit back the urge to protest 'you're the odd one!' in favor of looking through the jewels displayed around the cart. Some of them were actually quite pretty, if Roxas would demean his masculinity enough to admit such. 'Maybe,' he mused, 'I should buy something for Nammy-sister.'

"Excuse me? Um, girl? You there?" The attendant looked up, a dreamy expression on her face. "Would any of these be okay to give a friend of mine? She's… been pretty helpful and I want to thank her."

"Ah, something for a young lady, eh? Well, jewelry is quite a drab gift, if you don't mind my saying. Perhaps you should get her something better, like a slimy-droopy feather? They have been known to stop illness."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, finding the girl more than just a little bit peculiar. "Well, knowing my Nammy, she'll like anything I pick out for her." 'Besides, anything slimy or droopy would probably offend her.' He looked around, trying to find something that he thought Naminè would find pretty. Finally, he settled on a bracelet, white with small black diamonds.

"Here, you go, Kiddo!" Roxas looked up and gave yet another reproachful look to the vender who insisted upon calling him Axel's nickname for him. "Try this and see what you think."

Roxas stupidly held out his hand and she slipped a chain over it, letting the charm dangle. He pulled it up to eye-level, his respect for the odd little assistant who had designed the necklace racing to the top of the charts. The chain, thick and black, held up a coil of wire that started thin before widening to fit around the glowing red orb, the coil almost taking the shape of a diamond.

"Pretty," he murmured, slipping the gem around his neck. "This and the bracelet," he informed the woman, who tried, multiple times to tally up the total.

The attendant smiled and leaned over the counter, extending her hand towards Roxas. "I almost forgot again… Luna Lovegood."

The blonde hesitated for a second before inclining his head. "Roxas Clearwater. Sixteen."

"Ah, sixteen. That's a good age. Of course, I'm fifteen myself. Ravenclaw." She smiled as if though that was supposed to mean anything to Roxas. He shrugged, and Luna nodded her head. "Ah, yes, you really must be new. Of course, situations always _do_ pop up."

Roxas tried not to comment on this, hoping that the odd little girl would let the conversation drop, which she did. "You know, I have a break in a few minutes."

A couple of long moments passed as she smiled into the air, as if though she was listening to some relaxing music that Roxas couldn't hear. Suddenly, he gasped. "OH! Right! Ahem, 'would you like to go for an ice cream on your break'?"

Luna continued to smile, and Roxas wondered vaguely if the wispy expression _ever_ left her face. "Ice cream. That sounds nice. I've heard that they got a new flavor in - chicken and barbeque."

"ICE CREAM!" he demanded, _knowing_ that _that_ wasn't normal. "What happened to normal flavors like Sea-Salt Ice Cream? Are you people off your coconuts?"

Luna turned an eye on him and reached under the counter, grabbing a bag that, honest to God, looked like a chain had been threaded through something she had run over in a car. It was furry and had claws! "…"

"You know, it's quite the coincidence that you asked me to ice cream; I was planning to meet a few friends of mine for ice cream. And here I was afraid I would have to disappoint them. Oh, you'll like them. They're interesting. A little weird, but very nice."

Roxas shifted his blue eyes back and forth. 'If _she_ thinks someone is weird, they're either normal… or totally insane.' "Sounds good to me."

"How lovely. Ah, here, Roxas, let me carry that bracelet for you. It will fit in my purse and you won't have to carry it around."

The blonde almost said no, before he realized that the little brown bag had no handles. And he wasn't quite ready to… wear something that had brought on not one, but _two!_ of the crazy memories-slash-psychotic-dreams that he had been having. "Thank you, Luna. I appreciate it."

"I'm sure you do."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, still don't own it.

**Ai no Miko500, here is the chance to take your reward! When I asked about the houses, you submitted the exact houses I was planning on putting them in.**

… **And now everyone is going to go look, ha ha ha.**

**Anyway, suggest … oh, five? things than you want to happen in the course of this story, and, come hell or high-water, I'll do my best to fit them in. Congratulations on having the exact same mind-set that I do!**

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Roxas had never felt as awkward as he did, walking down the street towards Florean Fortescue's with this odd girl almost literally hanging on his arm. A few people had turned to stare at them - apparently Luna was well-known - and a pair of girls had even turned to laugh at them, the twin of one shaking her head as she walked on.

As they walked, Luna continued to talk in her airy, all-knowing voice as she informed him of who people that he would see at school were, not bothering to inquire as to why he didn't know if he was going to be a sixth year. "Ah, that, of course, is Seamus Finnegan. He and Dean Thomas - see him over there? - are Gryffindors in your year. Terry Boot… ah, look, Roxas. We're here now."

The blonde blinked, realizing that he had indeed spaced out. Luna was a nice enough girl, but her voice made him sleepy! He held the door open for her before heading inside himself, following her to a table where another girl and boy sat, already with ice cream cones.

"Ginny, Colin, how nice to see you both," Luna stated as if though they had not planned to meet there. "Friends, this is Roxas Clearwater. He's new here and will be a sixth year. Roxas. Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevy. They are both in my year."

"It's nice to meet you," Roxas stated, looking particularly at the red-headed girl, thinking that she was somehow familiar to him. 'Weasley… Professor Snape said something to a Weasley… the friend of that boy that remembered us after his spell… interesting.'

"Likewise. Won't you sit down, Roxas?" The blonde quickly surmised, from the girl's easy smile that was not as… spacey as Luna's, that Ginny did not know about him - the boy _had_ kept his part of their non-verbal deal and kept his mouth shut. He took the seat next to the girl and realized that she was watching him, too.

"What? What is it?" he inquired, nervously.

"Nothing." she responded with a smile. "You just seem a little tense. You're not from around here, are you? Can't be if this is your first year at Hogwarts."

"Where did you live before now?" Colin inquired, spoon still half in his mouth.

"Um…this really big castle," he answered vaguely. "It was pretty cool, but lonely too. I only remember having one real friend that whole time. It's a lot different out here. I guess I'm just still adjusting. Keep thinking that people are _staring _at me," he added in a teasing voice, hoping to put the youngers at ease.

He did.

"So, what do you know about Hogwarts? Do you know Headmaster Dumbledore?"

A waitress came up to the table and asked them, bluntly, 'what da'ya want?' Roxas hoped to find some kind of menu sitting on the table, hung above the counter, _anywhere_ but found nothing. "Um… I don't suppose you would have any Sea-Salt ice cream, would you?" he inquired, hoping beyond all hope that he could, at _some _point in this little misadventure, get his hands on his long-time comfort food.

"Yer in luck. We actually do have that. I'm guessing you want it or you wouldn't have asked."

"Uh, duh." Roxas was kind of starting to get fed up with the sub-standard service he was getting in this world. At least Scrooge McDuck was courteous, if not a bit miserly! However, as soon as he got his hands on the thin wooden stick, his mood took a dramatic sweep upwards and he unwrapped the plastic, shoving the blue popsicle into his mouth.

"That looks interesting. 'Sea-Salt'?" Ginny had leaned forward over her own bowl of strawberry and cinnamon. "I've never heard of salty ice cream before. Is it any good?"

Roxas nodded, continuing to lap obsessively at his favorite frozen treat. "Yeah. At first it is kinda salty, but then it gets really, really sweet. It's really hard to explain; my friend, Hayner, turned me onto them." Suddenly, he paused, mid-lick. 'That's right. The last time I saw them, they were all buddy-buddy with Sora, just like everyone else. Only Axel and Naminè even think about 'Roxas'. And where are they? That's a good question….' He suddenly felt very guilty for abandoning the two earlier that morning. For petty jealousy! "I'm sorry," Roxas apologized, finishing up his ice cream and standing up, dropping a few more coins on the table. "I shouldn't be here. My friends are probably waiting for me and I wasn't thinking about them when I came. It was nice to meet you guys."

Luna nodded and opened her purse, returning the jewelry he had bought from her place of summer-time employment.

"Nice to meet you too, Roxas. I'm sorry that we took you away when you had other plans. Tell your friends that we're sorry." Ginny smiled at him and he realized that she was _very_ similar to Naminè in more ways than one. "Are we going to see you during school, or was this a one-time thing?"

"I'm sure we'll see each other again," Roxas replied. "My friends and I believe in Destiny. If we're meant to see each other, we will. You remind me a lot of my friend, Naminè. I hope you two will get to meet each other." He nodded towards Luna and Colin, who were deep in conversation. "Bye."

He could feel Ginny's eyes on him as he walked away and realized, not for the first time, how much he stood out in this new world. He felt even more ostracized than he had in DiZ's Twilight Town, but at least this time there were others that understood how he felt.

Of course, those two would not make his job easy and hide in plain sight; that would be too damn simple. Roxas continued down the street, poking his head in and out of stores, trying to find either Axel or Naminè, hoping that the two would be together. Finally, he saw the oh-too-familiar shock of red hair and ran up, pouncing on Axel's back. "Hello."

"Roxas." The blonde fell to the ground, staring at the frosty tone of his best friend's voice. Axel was flipping through the pages of a huge bound stack of papers and Roxas finally realized that they were back in the bookstore again. "Naminè is next door at the pet store. You should go talk to her; I think you might have hurt her feelings."

"… Sounds like I might have hurt yours, too." When Axel didn't respond, Roxas pushed. "I'm sorry."

"… I know. Hey, Roxas, tell me what you make of this." Once again, everything was shoved into the back of their minds to be messed around with later. "Does that not look like the symbol for The Organization?" Roxas looked down and saw that it was. "I was looking for anything that might explain why your memories are starting to come back - you did say you thought they were, right?"

"Yes. But I'm surprised you actually bothered looking. I was just going to ask that Dumbledore guy when we saw him again."

"A good theory. I thought that maybe something about the magic here was canceling out whatever was done to your mind, but I can't find anything conclusive about the affects of magic here on Nobody spells. Well, that and I don't know exactly what happened to you. Naminè said something about a mix-up between some kind of pathway because of some duel-mind blah blah blah that couldn't mean less to me if it tried, so…."

"You have no idea," Roxas concluded.

"Bingo." Roxas laughed and flipped through the pages of the book, only to freeze. Apparently, it was no coincidence that Axel had picked up that book; it was about them! The 'Unknown Group' anyway. "Are we getting this?" he inquired, looking up at Axel.

"No point to it. I already have a copy of it." He properly interpreted the look on Roxas's face as shock. "You really _don't_ trust me, do you? What do you think I was looking for in here yesterday, huh? I got everything I could find in such a quick breeze that would have to do with 'Nobodies', 'Organization XIII', 'Keyblades', or 'Heartless'."

Axel paused for a moment. "You know, I'm a lot smarter than people think I am. I know that you probably don't remember that yet, but I told you one time. 'It's a lot easier to hear things when people don't think you're listening'."

Roxas tried to remember and found that the memory actually _did_ come as it was called, or at least one like it.

"_I'm not calling you **incompetent** so much as I'm saying that you… well, actually, that **is** what I'm saying. Sorry, Axel, but it's the truth. We both know you're about as fucking intelligent as a tree stump." A couple of the other members of Organization XIII laughed as Axel's ears turned about the color of his hair, Roxas less amused than the others._

"_As if though you're one to talk, Xaldin. Unless I'm mistaken, **you** were the one who thought that there might actually be a point to hooking up with that Beast character. Face it; all he is is a bitter prince with a crush."_

"_There is something more to that story, I **know **it! And that isn't the point! You're talking about doing something totally off-the point! In case you haven't realized it, we have a **goal** here and I don't-!"_

_  
"Enough!" Xaldin clicked his jaw shut at the angry yell from the superior. "Enough. Axel, you have a good idea. Not a practical one," he added at the muffled protest from his third in command, "but a good one. However, I don't think that it would be smart to put our efforts towards something that is not necessary to reaching, as he said, the goal we are trying to reach."_

_Roxas noted the frown on Axel's face and stood up. "-."_

"You remembered something else?"

"Yeah. A meeting. It started off with Xaldin running his mouth. Something about this idea you had that Xemnas nipped in the bud. Said it was a 'good' idea, but 'not a practical one'."

"Oh, that. Yeah. … Do you remember what happened after?" Roxas shook his head. "You broke Xaldin's nose for 'running his damn mouth'. Gotta admit though - all _furry_ tendencies aside - he was one of the cooler ones. Him, Demyx, Saïx, Xemnas. Sure, they were all asses except Stupid Demy, but they were at least tolerable."

The two friends shared a laugh. However, Roxas's was kind of weak. "You know, I really regret not listening to you in DiZ's Twilight Town. If I had, I would have all of these memories, too."

"Yeah," Axel agreed, "but then Sora wouldn't have awoken. He would have never defeated Xemnas and the others, would have never gotten back to Riku and Kairi. So what if I died and you and Naminè were bound, we're all here aren't we? Who knows what could have happened. Maybe you would _still_ never have gotten your memories back. Maybe I would have been caught trying to help you and gotten both of our asses killed. You just gotta believe that it happened like it was supposed to."

"…." Roxas just stared at his friend. "You know what, you really _are _smarter than I thought you were."

"Thanks. … Hey, wait! Does that mean you thought I was stupid!"

"La la la la!" Roxas proceeded to run out of the shop, his laughing best friend on his heels.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Are you really going to go through with this?" Naminè asked, leaning over the wooden table where the multiple needles and other odd-looking things.

Axel smirked, shucking off his heavy trench coat and the small, tight red shirt under it. "Hell yeah I am! Come on, Nammy, don't be such a little goody-two-shoes! Roxas wants me to, don't you, Kiddo?"

The blonde shrugged, looking at a display hanging up on the wall. "I couldn't really care less. But I will add that, if he wants to do it, it's his right. I mean, you know, HIV and AIDS aside, nothing _too_ bad can happen just because he's opted to get a little body art." He knew that, if Axel was the best friend he claimed to be, he would pick up the sarcasm.

"If they can fix broken bones, make people loose their memories - except that one case that I still want to talk about… - and make all kinds of other random things happen, I'm sure they can sterilize needles." Axel unzipped his jeans and let them hang low on his hips. "Both of you need to chill-lax, sibs. I'm not a damn moron, y'know?"

"Gods, don't start talking like Raijin. Makes me think about Seifer again."

Axel chuckled. "I see your point. Right, well! You two are invited to stay or go at will; I don't really care. If you're squeamish though, I'd say 'get out'."

"Don't worry," a teenage male said, coming out from the back. Roxas tried to look him in the eye and realized how damn impossible that would be; the piercings through his eyebrow, ear, and lip would draw his attention far easier. "We'll take good care of him. Haven't had a customer die on the table in years."

Naminè gasped in horror and Axel laughed, leaning over. "Joke, Nammy! I'm sure he was joking, okay? You're forgetting; I've gone through this once before." Roxas made a muffled protest before he realized that at least half of Axel's body was covered. Hopefully no one would question that the 'once before' would be under his clothes. '…Not thinking it, not thinking it! Oh, shit!'

"What's up, Roxaaas? You look a little ill. Hey, Nammy, I thought you would be the woozy one. You might wanna take Kiddo out or something. Heh, I can just imagine what he'd do when he saw the needle piercing right through my flesh, a small little prick and -."

"Let's go, Roxas!" Axel's loud mirth followed them as Naminè physically dragged her fellow blonde out of the door before she could get nauseous.

Roxas smiled as Naminè tugged him along. "He's a bit much sometimes, isn't he?"

"Ah, nah. He doesn't mean any harm, right? Anyway, I'm sure he's not going to do anything _too_ stupid. You know, unless all of that hair gel finally leaked into his brain." Naminè laughed and looped her arm through his as they walked, her handbag pressed against Roxas's hip. "Love you, Sis."

"I love you, too, Roxie. You and Axel are the best big brothers in the whole world." She smiled at him, motioning for them to sit down on a short stone wall. "If you don't mind my asking, Big Brother, why did you leave us earlier? I mean, it was kinda mean. You should have seen the look on Axel's face."

"…He's part of to do with it, Nammy. Can I talk to you about something and have you _promise - swear - _not to tell Axel?" When Naminè nodded, he continued. "Lately, I've been having these really weird dreams, visions, whatever they are. And it's really freaking me out."

"Tell me about them," Naminè prodded, softly, a smirk quirking at the tips of her lips.

Roxas opened his mouth to tell her some of what had been happening when he saw her smirk. "… You little witch! You horrible, rotten, memory-tweaking - why I oughta-!"

"Please, Roxie! Calm down, okay? Please? I know I didn't have any right, but what right did they have to keep your memories from you?" Naminè frowned, deeply. "Don't be mad, Roxas. I had to make a tough decision. I broke my promise to Axel because I was trying to do what was best for you."

The male put a hand up. "I want to know what the hell you thought you were doing! What gave you the right to give me false memories? Did you get some kind of kick out of making me look like an ass?"

Naminè tried to quiet him down as the last few shoppers stared. "Believe me, Roxas, I would never do that to you. I _hated_ to deal with that wand guy. I could never give my own Big Brother false memories. Roxas, I'm… trying to help you. Those aren't fake memories; they're real. Taken from the back of Sora's mind and imprinted in your own. Your entire being was subordinate when you combined with Sora so I just… ripped what he didn't need."

"Did you even _look _at those memories you were shoving in my head!" he demanded, not so much angry at her as he was at what she was insinuating. "Those _memories_ accused me of smoking pot and being a faggot! I'm not gay! And I sure as Hell wasn't Axel's lover!"

"Yes you were, Roxas. That's what I was trying to tell you."

A heavy silence built up between the two as Roxas tried to take in everything that was being told to him. "I'm sorry, Naminè. I didn't mean to yell at you. But why are you giving me these memories? Why did you want me to know?"

"Because you aren't my only Big Brother. It's not just _your_ interests I'm looking out for. Haven't you noticed that Axel has been acting differently around you ever since you started remembering? He's too embarrassed to bring it up on his own, but he absolutely _forbade_ me to 'tell' you. So, I bent the rules a little."

"By making my life Hell?" he inquired, sadly. "Oh, by the way, I almost forgot; I got this for you." He handed her a paper bag, the same one that he had gotten back from Luna. "As a present for you."

Naminè smiled as she opened up her gift, letting the wrapping fall as she held up the bracelet, a flush coating her cheeks. "It's so pretty, Roxas. Wow, now I feel even more guilty."

"Don't," he told her, helping her to put on the present. "I don't _blame_ you for trying to help Axel, but can you answer me one question? Why, since I've been getting these memories, has he been so angry with me? Yelling, and snapping, and being sarcastic and rude…."

"I don't know. I thought he would be happy. It is rather odd. Maybe… he's fallen out of love with _you_?" Naminè doubted it, but what other explanation could there be.

"Well, I'm nice to know how wanted _I_ am. Makes sense though." Roxas frowned. "Listen, I'm gonna head back to the room. I'm not leaving like I was earlier, but I'm tired and I need to think about this. You don't mind covering for me, do you, Nammy?"

"Of course not. Are you going to fake sleep when Axel gets home?"

"I doubt it," he lied, smoothly, kissing her forehead before walking off, heart burning. 'Damn Axel. I wish he would have at least fucking said something before I started to fall in love with _him_.'

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Yo, Kiddo, you gotta see this!" Axel burst, throwing open the door to their shared room at the Leaky Cauldron. "They do some pretty damn awesome stuff if you just - oh!"

Roxas smirked into his pillow, hearing the immediate contrition in his friends voice. "Sorry, Kiddo," Axel whispered, even though Roxas was sure that he thought he was asleep. However, he began to feel more guilty when the red-head leaned down and brushed his lips against his forehead, before moving down and meshing their lips together. "Sleep well, my precious Roxas."

After that, the blonde could no longer fake being asleep. "How am I supposed to 'sleep well' when you try to accost me in my sleep? Are you _trying_ to send me the most fucking mixed signals I have _ever_ received? I mean, everyone else just goes ahead and tells me what they think. Hayner, Seifer, Hell, I knew how Setzer! felt about me, but I just can't figure you out."

"What the Hell are you talking about! And why were you pretending to be out, anyway! You don't do that kind of thing to people!" Roxas sat up and glared back at the emerald green eyes. However, something more than anger was building up inside of him.

He clenched his fists and grabbed the front of Axel's robes, throwing him down onto his own bed. "Fuck you."

A heavy silence sat in as both boys panted, trying not to haul off and hit the other. Finally, Axel spoke first. "Look, Kiddo, I'm not… I didn't mean to do anything like this, alright? But you have to admit, this is pretty damn awkward. … how was I supposed to just bring this up, huh? I'm not excusing what I've done and what, as she admitted, I made Naminè do. If it makes you feel any better, I don't need _your_ help in feeling like an ass."

He walked over to his own corner of the room and pulled a book out of the bag by the chair, flipping it open to a marked page and sighing. Roxas began to feel guilty for chewing the fuck out of his best friend. "Ax. I'm sorry, too. I've been a bitch lately because… I didn't even _know_ I was a faggot! Didn't know you were either. Can you imagine how weird it feels to forget your sexuality?"

Axel couldn't help but chuckle. "You aren't gay, Roxas. You're more like… straight with an 'Axel-exception'. You couldn't even stand to be in the same room when Saïx was getting his ass _banged_, and, let me tell you, he's hot in heat." Roxas managed a small laugh.

"If it makes you feel any better, we didn't have sex. Made out like sin, sure, but you were too 'nyah' on the whole me-being-over-eighteen thing. Maybe that's why I didn't want to tell you? Maybe because I thought you wouldn't want me anymore. At first, I thought you had picked Naminè over me. That's why I tried to kick the hell out of you in The Old Mansion in DiZ's Twilight Town. After that, you were Sora. And Sora was Riku's boy-toy."

"Then why didn't you tell me when I got back to normal? Why did you make Naminè hide it?"

"Because I was scared, okay? I thought that you wouldn't want me. I can't figure out why you ever did." Roxas shoved his hand into the wild spikes and took in the new additions to his friend's appearance - the bar through his eyebrow, the bar through his tongue, and the re-administration of the tear tattoos.

"I'm so confused, Axel. I'm honestly kinda freaked out. You can't blame me for that, can you?" Axel shook his head. "You wanna try?"

"I never stopped wanting you, Roxas. That's why I was content to live in my illusion instead of trying to make you love me. But I wouldn't be adverse to getting my grubby little paws on the real thing." He opened his arms for Roxas to tentatively crawl in. "You're not under any pressure, Roxas. We're sure as Hell not rushing this. And don't push yourself to get your memories back. It'll happen when it does."

"Thank you," Roxas answered, sincerely. "Should we tell Little Sister?"

"Oh, let me have the joy." Axel reached back and slammed his fist into the wall. "Yo, Nam! I'm still fucking pissed at you for running your mouth, but, since Roxas hasn't busted my face in yet, I'm almost willing to forgive you!"

"Good! Sleep well, love birds!"

Roxas shook his head. "Fuck it; the world is crazy."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

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**Yay, next chapter Hogwarts! And, don't worry, I'm not about to let Axel and Roxas have it _that_ easy. I just can't stand not having my couple together. You can't fall in love with a couple and make them suffer for long right? But, trust me, road bumps ahoy!**

**Hmm… I'm planning on working hard this week. Because - please forgive me - that father of mine is taking me on vacation with him to Virginia. And my mom is taking the laptop with her on her _own _vacation with my future-step-dad. So I won't be able to type all of next week. I'm so, so sorry. I promise to do something to make it up to you!**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Yada yada yada.Here you go, Ai no Miko500! Your first request! Hehehe, it was actually fun to write! I may have to do it again… heh. 

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"Does anyone else think that maybe Professor Bat-Shit has been breathing in a few too many fumes? Platform… Nine and three-quarters? I might not be familiar with this world, but I sure as hell don't remember Twilight Town's station having platforms labeled like that." 

"They weren't. Of course, there weren't that many trains, either. Still," Roxas added, "maybe it was a misprint? Really big station with… 934 platforms; that makes no sense." 

"Are we lost?" Naminè asked, voicing their mutual concern. 

"God, I hope not. That would be damn embarrassing!" Axel, still being the tallest out of them, managed to stand on his toes and look over the crowd. "I don't see anyone I recognize, either. Not like it would be that many people. Ooh, wait! I think I see the kids that Snap-boy tore into. You think the one that remembers will mind if we ask him how to get on the train?" 

"Axel, no!" But it was too late. Roxas sighed with a slight smile on his face as he chased after his… best friend? Boyfriend? Either way, Axel was about to make an ass out of himself. Again. "You have no idea how to behave in public! Naminè and I oughta just tie you up and shove your good-for-nothing - Hi-i, Ginny." Roxas froze in his steps as he saw that the red-headed girl he had just recently met was staring at him like he was crazy. 

"I would ask, but, seriously, Roxas, I don't want to know." Ginny smiled sweetly at him and Roxas returned it, descending to give her a peck on the cheek. "You're so silly. I'm guessing these are the two friends you ditched me to meet, then?" 

"Ah, yes." The blonde pulled away from his newer red-headed friend to stand next to the older one. "Ax, Nammy, this is Ginny Weasley. I met her the other day when I ran off on you guys. Ginny, Naminè Lalane and Elliot Axion - we call him Axel." 

"Nice to meet you, friend of Roxas," Naminè added, inclining her head to Ginny. 

"You too. Oh! These are my parents, Molly and Author." The two oldest smiled, waving. Roxas tried not to comment that Ginny was probably adopted; she looked nothing like her mommy. "My brothers, George and Fred-." Roxas raised an eyebrow at the twins, only distinguishable by the patterns in their rainbow-colored hair. "My other brother, Ron, his girlfriend, Hermione, and Harry Potter."

That Roxas filed away for later. 'Harry Potter. He's the one who knows who we are.' He and Axel exchanged a glance. "Yeah, hi. Anyway, Ginny, can I ask you a favor? Could you explain exactly how we're supposed to get on this train? Platform…? We had trains where I'm from, but not like this." 

"Oh, right, I forgot that you're new. We'll show you guys. We'll go first and you just have to follow us, okay?" The blonde shrugged and nodded, letting her walk off towards platform nine. 

Axel reached out and snagged Roxas around the waist, pulling the blonde in closer to him. "Man oh man, Kiddo, where did you find this one? She makes Kairi _not_ seem like a preppy little bitch." Naminè gasped, scandalized, as Roxas slammed his knuckles into his boyfriend's arm. 

"You're such a dick. She's nice. Not the flirty-nice either. Just the 'I'm curious so tell me about yourself' nice." 

"I hope you didn't tell her _too_ much. Would really suck to get kicked out of here before we even settle in. I mean, at least you'd have Sora to take care of you; I'd be shoved right back in there with the rest of the Organization, and, let me tell ya, they ain't that happy with me right now." 

"Go figure." Roxas shoved a hand into his pocket and started to fiddle with his new little nervous-energy-reliever toy, also known as the necklace and orb of flames. "You _will_ be good this year, won't you , Axel? I don't want to have to beat you in front of an entire school."

The red-head rolled his eyes. "Aw, please? Joking. And I promise to be on a normal person's best behavior. …Usually." Naminè laughed quietly. 

"Um, do you boys think that you can help me find someone? I'm kind of looking for him…." 

"Draco's kind of hard to miss, Nammy," Roxas replied, not even bothering to sugar-coat things for his sister's sake. "Besides, I'm sure he's looking for you, too. He seemed pretty damn enamored the other day, I'll tell you that much right now. Hmm, maybe Axel and I should work a little harder at getting a few points across," he murmured, fingering his Keyblades. 

"Roxas Clearwater, don't you dare!" The two males were floored by the shriek their sister's voice had taken. 

"Chill-lax, Nammy, Kiddo wasn't gonna do nuthin. Too life-threatening anyway." 

"Yes, I'm saving all of the dangerous, kinky stuff for you, you pervert," Roxas replied flatly, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. Axel laughed loudly throwing his head back in mirth. 

"If that's your fetish, Kiddo, go for it. Come on, Rox," Axel added, reaching down and boldly cupping Roxas's ass, "make me feel like a man." 

Naminè screamed and beat Axel over the head. "Okay, that's disturbed! Seriously, it's like thinking about your brothers having sex!" 

Roxas blushed as a couple of people turned to stare at them, a few even going far enough to whisper and point. "Please ignore her; she forgot her medication this morning." 

Axel continued to laugh, herding the two blondes over to where the red-headed Weasley family had been waiting, inches out of earshot. "Okay, so where is the train, now?" 

Mrs. Weasley smiled kindly. "Watch Ron and Harry. Go on now boys." The two teenagers nodded, emerald green eyes fixed on the three Nobodies, and they took a slight running start, straight for the brick column separating platforms nine and ten. 

Roxas winced, forcing his eyes shut and waiting for the inevitable BANG, only for a 'whoosh'-ing sound to take it's place. The cerulean-blue orbs snapped open, only to realize that the Weasley boy and Harry Potter had disappeared. "What the fuck?" he breathed out, shocked. 

Ignoring the less-approving looks coming from the two adults, Axel murmured out his own explicative-filled agreement. Finally, he silenced himself with a final, "damn." 

Naminè, too, looked horrified. 

"Don't worry, kids; it's not as bad as you think it is." 

"You don't even feel a thing!" one of the twins - Fred, Roxas thought - added. 

"Unless you get scared that is." 

"Well, yes, then there's that." 

"Of course, even that isn't so bad." 

"Until you hit the wall." 

Roxas paled and looked like he was about to faint. "Um, can I opt _not_ to run headfirst at the brick wall? I've seen, and vaguely remember, the after-affects of one of my friends getting _his_ head slammed against a wall, and it doesn't seem like as much fun as you figure it would." 

Axel chuckled lowly. "Demyx." Roxas glared at him out of the corner of his eye, forcing the red-headed Nobody to straighten up or risk pissing off his quick-to-anger catamite-toy. "Un, right, so we seriously have to run at the pretty little wall and hope that we don't break out pretty little necks? Yep, sounds like a good bet to me!" 

"You just have to keep going. If you flinch, yeah, you'll probably break something," George informed with an uncaring shrug. "Here, watch Hermione and Ginny." 

The two girls took the hint and ran straight for the wall, disappearing through the barrier. "Do the people never notice wizards going through a supposedly solid wall?" 

"Nah, some kind of charm prevents it. Now stop obsessing and go!" Fred insisted, shoving Roxas forward and almost knocking him down. Axel caught him. 

"…Not to sound like Xemnas or anything, but we'll go together." Roxas agreed, but let Axel take the first moves, pushing resolutely towards the wall. The blonde watched with his unwavering gaze as the front of the cart holding his boyfriend's luggage disappeared into the wall. Relief flooded through him as they followed. 

"That… was so fucked up," Roxas admitted, turning from left to right to see the huge steam-engine train that would cart them off to their new school. It was big. "…," Roxas sighed. "Okay, yeah, I'm not ready for this. I wanna go back to the motel-place. Or better yet, Destiny Islands." 

"Aw, is Roxie homesick? Bet you miss Sora, don't you?" Axel pressed him against the wall next to the barrier between the muggle world and their own, resting his face in the crook of Roxas's neck, breathing in the soft scent and tickling the soft flesh. 

Naminè appeared through the barrier, almost running Axel over with her cart. "You deserved that, letch-monkey. Keep it to yourself until we're out of public, 'kay?" 

"Bitch," Axel answered, raising the pierced eyebrow. "Come on, let's go already. I gotta admit, all of the people in black cloaks are starting to freak me out. Makes me think that bastard, Xemnas, is going to crawl out of the woodwork in a moment. And let me tell you, if there's one face I don't wanna see again…." 

The three Nobodies laughed as they boarded the train, getting shoved every which way by the other teenagers trying to do the same. "Think we can find a room to our own? Kinda hard to talk about _our_ stuff with them around." 

"True." Naminè started to open doors as they went down the hallway, poking her head in and out of rooms to find an empty one. "We must be really late or something. Every place is full-up." She sighed and opened up another room, only to make a contented little squeak. 

Axel and Roxas exchanged a look. "Bleach-boy." 

"Hey, guys. I was hoping that you would manage to find the train. I suppose you must have followed Naminè's advice; you two dunderheads couldn't find yourselves in a mirror." 

"Fuck you, Malfoy," Roxas answered, slipping into the compartment with his friends. "We found the train well enough; asked this family of, what, six, how the hell we were supposed to find platform nine and three-quarters, which is totally stupid, just so you know." 

"I didn't set the system up, Roxanne." 

"It's ROXAS! You and Axel, I swear! Rox-as. Not Roxanne, not Roxie; Roxas!" 

Axel, of course, had to open his own mouth. "Technically, it _isn't_ Roxas because Roxas is an anagram, like that of the first six members of Organization-." 

"Shut up." Roxas looked around the compartment and found that a few people were already sitting there; two heavy-set males, two even-more heavy-set females, and… Roxas paused. The last male, besides Draco, was not half-bad looking. Attractive even. Shoulder-length, wavy black hair, bronzed skin, and flashing green eyes, not humorous like Axel's, but cruel and dark. 

Draco noticed his staring. "Ah, yes. My friends. Crabbe, Goyle." The two boulders nodded. "Parkington and Bulstrode." The two females. "And Blaise Zabini. All Slytherins, no less." 

"Who would expect less from you, you hoity-toity twit." Roxas, with a wave of his hand, managed to convince a boulder to move so that he could sit down, only for Axel to take his spot and then offer his lap as Roxas's own chair. The blonde sighed in annoyance but, not wanting to stand for however-long, curled up against his boyfriend. 

It was still weird to think of Axel, his _best friend_, as someone that he could have any intention but friendship with, but, he supposed, it was understandable. Naminè _and_ Kairi had taken the initiative to comment on the similarities between Axel and that silver-haired, self-obsessed, half-assed… Again, Roxas sighed. He didn't _hate_ Riku; just thought he was damn annoying. The only person to ever beat him…. 

'Well, if Sora's gay, that means that there wasn't much hope for me to begin with anyway.' Draco stood up and leaned against the wall so Naminè could also have a spot. "We'll be on the train for a couple of hours yet. Enough time for the candy cart to come around anyway. I suppose you aren't so familiar with our sweets, eh? You'll have to try some; a few are… _disgusting_, but others are alright." 

"Wait," Boulder Number One cut in, "you guys aren't pure-bloods? And you're too old to be first years; we'd have seen you before." 

"Brilliant deduction," Roxas answered smarmily. "My parents have _zero_ 'magical ability' and probably don't even know that magic is what we did. Then again, they would accept _Sora_, but they don't even want to believe that I'm their family." 

Axel patted his arm. "Thanks." 

"You're welcome. Anyway, my magic is pretty powerful, elemental stuff, but I've only been playing around with it for five years or so." 

Naminè smiled and flushed as all eyes turned on her. "My family are the powerful witches of The Radiant Garden. Not that that means much. There are much more mighty wizards all around. Yen Sid for example." 

"You know Yen Sid?" Parkington demanded, shrieking. "Everyone has heard of him! He's an ally of the greatest wizards and witches that have ever walked on our earth! Merlin, Flamel, Maleficent-." 

"Maleficent is here!" Axel demanded, jumping out of his chair and sending Roxas tumbling to the floor. 

Bulstrode laughed. "Even a Mudblood has heard of her, I suppose. Of course she isn't around, you moron! She died years ago! Got killed by a muggle, no less!" 

Roxas brushed himself off from the spill he took and grabbed Naminè's arm, jerking her forward. "What the hell is that bitch doing around here! Am I on crack, or did Dumbledore say that this world was unaffected by the Heartless-Nobody wars?" 

"Maybe it's a different Maleficent? I don't think that Dumbledore would lie to us." At Roxas's disbelieving look, she lightly shoved him back to his own seat. "We'll ask about it later. I'm sure someone will tell us." 

A long silence passed in the compartment, no one seeming to know quite what to say. Finally, Axel found his voice. "What the hell is your problems? If you didn't want us here, you should have just said so." 

"Don't be such a drama-queen, Axel," Draco stated, a weird look on his face. However, his friends interrupted him, much less politely. 

"Maybe you should leave, Mudbloods." 

The others laughed like there was something hilarious - for all Roxas knew, they had been speaking gibberish - but he got the hint that they had just been slung at. "Draco, we're gonna go. When you can teach your spoiled little girlfriends manners, we'll be back. Come on, Ax. Nammy." 

Draco looked like he wanted to protest the other blonde male taking the girl with him, but let them go, feeling, for the first time, maybe a little _embarrassed_ by the way his friends had acted; preposterous - it was his way as well. 

"Well, that was an eye opener," Axel commented, sharply. "Didn't know that we'd be prejudiced against _here_, too. If we're not being thrown out of The Radiant Garden for being Nobodies, we're being called names because we aren't - what? Why did they care how long we've been 'magical'? So what if we aren't purebloods," he added, removing a shrunken book from his pocket and checking to see if that information was correct. 

"You actually made notes on this stuff? Just don't pull them out in conversation; you'll look like a dumb-ass like Demyx did. …Evil-villain note cards, I ask you." 

Naminè giggled as she checked a few more doors. "This is pretty bad, guys. It seems like most of the groups have already taken the compartments. We might be stuck standing out in the hallway until we get there unless - oh! Um… Hello, Harry, wasn't it?" 

The black-haired teen looked at them from where he was staring out the window with a shocked look on his face. "W-what are you guys doing in here? You aren't going to-." Harry quieted with a nervous look. He was obviously terrified of them. 

'And why shouldn't he be?' Roxas thought, 'he remembers what Axel did to that shop.' "Don't worry; we're not here to fix what that cranky bat of a professor fucked up. We just need a place to sit. Draco kicked us out," he added, trying to get some sympathy for their plight. 

"You're friends with Malfoy! Then what are you doing trying to sit with a Gryffindor; go find another snake to kiss up to!" 

"Now, Harry, how impolite that was!" Roxas jumped, knocking himself and his two friends over as he tripped. 

"Professor Lupin!" Harry almost stepped on Roxas as he moved to hug everyone's favorite graying werewolf. "No one told me that you were going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher again!" 

"Ah, well," the teacher started in kindly, "It was a last-minute appointment. Headmaster Dumbledore certainly didn't want another Umbridge on his hands now did he? And with that, are you three okay?" Roxas was surprised that the adult leaned down and proffered a hand to pull him up. "I didn't mean to frighten you. … You must be… Roxas." 

"You know me?" the blonde inquired, frostily. 'Who the hell is this guy! Apparently he knows the boy with his memory still intact. He called him 'Professor', so he must be a teacher,' Roxas concluded, nodding. 

"Headmaster Dumbledore may have mentioned something about you, yes. Of course, he didn't mention everything…," he trailed off, chancing a glance at his friend's son. 

"It's okay," Axel intervened. "If you've spoken with that… Professor Snape? He tried to wipe the kid's memories. Didn't work. He, ah, kinda remembers that I blew some stuff up. No big deal for me, though, right?" 

Remus chuckled. "I suppose not. But let's continue this in the compartment." 

"Wait, so you know them?" Harry inquired of the werewolf who was probably his last parental figure left. "And you're inviting them in? I'm not even supposed to remember anything, and that girl-!" 

Naminè frowned. "I promise not to use my powers on you. If you weren't… wiped like your friends, then you must be very powerful. If nothing else, I would not risk failing. And you seem to be friends with someone that Dumbledore trusted." 

The Defense teacher motioned to the seats for the three nobodies. "I teach a class at Hogwarts. Dumbledore thought that, with Snape being, well, _himself_ that you might need another Professor who knows at least part of your situation. Don't worry; he didn't tell me more than what he thought I needed to know, I'm sure. I'm still rather confused about some of it, myself." 

"What's there to be confused about?" Roxas asked, openly. Something about the nice, calming waves practically _spilling_ off of the male soothed his usually savage temper and even Axel seemed to be less hostile than usual. It was almost like talking to…. "You're a were-creature, aren't you? Not a were-elf, I would have recognized that. A wolf, perhaps?" 

Harry's mouth fell open in shock - it had taken Hermione weeks! - but Remus just smiled. "I hope that isn't a problem. We were not of the same… clan, but I knew of Saïx. An unfortunate death, I'll admit that much." 

"True." Roxas shrugged. It was kind of fun confusing the be-glassed boy, and, if Dumbledore had told the man anything, he was _probably_ a safe-enough ally. "Hey, can we ask you a few questions? Naminè's little boyfriend filled us in a bit, but we would like a more objective point of view; apparently Slytherins are known for being a bit bigoted." 

Remus made a soft noise in the back of his throat. "That they are. Seems that you've been bombarded with Slytherins since you got here. Hopefully you have well-enough sense not to listen to Malfoy and Severus too closely." 

"Well…." 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

"You mean that the chocolate moves!" Axel demanded, scandalized. "But you can't eat it that way! What good is chocolate when you're not eating it! It's like having ice cream without a spoon, bowl, cherries, and caramel! It's inhumane!" 

Roxas laughed, feeling more at ease than he had at any point since he had gotten into the wizarding world. Something about being alone with his two best friends and two people who even partially understood what he was calmed him. Sure, Draco knew, but he was… an unfamiliar nice. If Roxas closed his eyes, he would swear that he was sitting in a room with Xaldin and Saïx. Just nicer versions. 

"So, Harry, where are Ron and Hermione? Surely the prefects meeting has ended by now?" Remus added with incredulity. 

"It should have. I'm not sure where they are either. Should we be looking for them?" Harry asked. "If they ran into Malfoy, they might be in trouble." Naminè almost protested before she remembered some of the stories she'd heard. 

"I bet I can find them," Axel stated around a chocolate frog with a missing leg. "Give me a second." He lapped the sticky sweet from his fingers before throwing his hand out, a wave of Nobody magic flowing down his arm. 

"Axel, don't," Roxas complained, not wanting to show their abilities to Remus and Harry, even if they _had_ both proved trustworthy. "We're here to learn their magic, not use ours. Besides," he added softly, hiding in the wild red shock of hair so that they could not read his lips, "I want to know more about the rumor that Maleficent has been snooping around before we use traceable Nobody abilities, even something as simple as a mimicry of Sora's Scan. Of course, you understand." 

"Yeah." Axel was actually, for once, unbelievably happy. Since he'd been turned into a Nobody, he could not feel _joy_, or _happiness_, or even _contentment_. But, something about whatever Dumbledore had done to him, had let him actually _feel_ again. Or maybe it was just Roxas. He wrapped his arms around the pale form of his best friend turned boyfriend. For how reluctant he had been to accept what was happening, Roxas was being pretty easy-going now that they were 'official'. It was sort-of like having pre-Twilight Town Roxas back again, only without the Organization loyal assholes around, watching them under half-lidded eyes to see whether or not he was fucking Xemnas's 'secret weapon'. It was a nice feeling. 

"I'll go look for them," Harry announced, standing up sharply. He was not homophobic in any means what-so-ever - he had even been experimenting with thoughts of his own sexuality - but watching Roxas and Axel, and knowing that Axel was actually in his early twenties, seemed a little creepy. 

Even if he himself had started to suspect that he liked older men. 

He opened the door to head out into the hallway and realized that it was much cooler outside of the room. 'Makes sense, Axel being a flame user.' Somehow, the news about them having 'special magic' was easier to take after watching a building blow up. 

Harry poked his head into a few rooms, asking about Ron and Hermione, but no one had seen them. When he saw Terry Boot, he had asked where they went after the meeting, and even the haughty boy had to admit that he had absolutely no idea. Harry was about to move on to another compartment when he collided into a much taller figure, falling back and landing right on his ass. 

"Ow… Oops," he breathed out, looking up and seeing Professor Snape, in all his looming glory, standing over him with a startled expression on his unusually pale features. "I'm sorry, Sir." 

"It's fine, just watch where you're going." Harry was surprised. Snape hadn't torn flesh for knocking into him? The professor sounded tired, weary, even - knowing Remus, he knew the difference - and decided not to look a gift-horse in the mouth. "Potter, have you seen Clearwater, Axion, and Lalane? …Do you even know who they are?" 

Harry was about to snip something back when he remembered that he was supposed to have lost his memories of them. "I do. They're still with Professor Lupin, probably. In the back," he added, not sure if Snape would even know where to _begin_ looking for his wolfish enemy. 

"… thank you." The man walked past, cloak billowing behind him, and Harry had to note that it was the first time that they had spoken to each other without resorting to sharp words, angry spells, or a loss of house points. He had to admit, it scared him! He scampered off before Snape could realize what he'd just done and turn around and curse him. 

He moved to continue looking for his two missing friends, only for time to have worked against them. He had spent more time with Remus and the three new students than he had thought; the train eased to a halt before he had even opened another door. "Damn it all," he muttered, getting off of the train. 

Outside, the group of people that had disembarked cluttered around the doorways, the older students using size alone to part the first years, staring terrified at a sight that made Harry smile brightly. "Hagrid!" 

"'Ello, Harry! Good ter see ya! 'Ad a good summer, did ya? Oh, firs' years! Firs' years, over this way! Sorry, Harry. Gotta get this lot up to the school, ya understand! Would you have 'appened to see three new students I'm supposed ter bring up?" 

Harry smiled, hugging the large half-giant. "They're with Professor Lupin." 

"Good, good! I'll just let Remus take care of dem den!" The half-giant herded the students onto the boats, a few of the first years quaking at the booming voice of their momentary caretaker. "Easy on there, lads! Watch for the giant squid!" followed by shrieking. Harry just shook his head. 'First years.' 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

"Come on, you three. Headmaster Dumbledore said something about wanting to talk to you before you went to get sorted." Totally ignoring him, the three continued to stare at the castle. 

"Wow. I mean, Disney Castle was nice enough for being run by a prejudice mouse. The ruins at Hallow Bastion? Beautiful! Castle Oblivion? A gem, dark or not! Our own Castle at The World That Never Was? But, even I have to admit, this place puts them all to shame! I think I'm gonna like it here!" Axel lifted the face guards of some of the suits of armor, only to be batted away by the empty hulls. "Hey! You guys are just like Nobodies; don't get pissy with me!" 

Remus couldn't help but chuckle. "Come on. Hopefully, the welcoming committee has kept himself entertained with the first years. If not… well, just try not to make too much noise; we're practically sneaking in." 

The blonde male raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is the welcoming committee and why would we want to avoid it?" 

"Well," the werewolf started, "his name is Peeves, and-."Crash! Sploosh! Drip, drip, drip. 

Roxas stared stupidly ahead as paint, thick, tempered paint, slid down his face and robes, forming a large black puddle underneath his feet. "Oh dear," Remus commented as Axel and Naminè burst into hysterical laughter. 

"Lookit! Bad enough to have a blonde _and_ a brunet version of him, now they come in black, too! Hey, Kiddo, when are you planning on getting a red-headed version of you? I think Zexion liked red-heads," he added with a sly sultry. 

Roxas reached up and tried to wipe away some of the goop of black paint. "Goddamn 'welcoming committee'. I would rather be back with Seifer, Fuu, and Rai! Professor Lupin, can you do anything for this mess? I can't really go around covered in paint." 

The werewolf frowned. "I can try. However, I'm about as handy with household chores as Nymphadora. Um… _scourgify!_" Roxas shivered as a wave of cold washed over him, but he could feel the tightening of rapidly drying paint on his skin until the patches were small enough to be invisible. 

He smiled. "Good as new." 

Axel left out a muffled sound and Naminè flushed, face pressed against the red-head's arm. "Um, Kiddo? Don't shoot the messenger or anything, but Professor Puppy wasn't kidding. He isn't that good at them… your hair? It's, like, Xaldin black." 

"Impossible," Roxas stated, reaching up to a spiky strand. Even though his hair was much shorter than Sora's, he managed to pull a bang down half an inch, just within eye sight. It was midnight dark. "Goddamn it, GHOST!" 

Peeves just spirited away, cackling as he banged on every suit of armor. 

"Um," Remus comforted unhelpfully, "it should wear off by tomorrow morning. At the latest! That's one of the restrictions that we _did_ manage to put on his little pranks." 

"Great," Roxas replied, flatly. "Just what I wanted to hear." 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

Hahahaha, poor not-so-blonde little Roxas! Welp, there ya go! Chapter 8! Be grateful; it's a page and a half longer than usual. Just because I'm leaving in about two hours to go on a week long vacation where I will have _zero_ contact with a computer. I'm telling you guys, I hate my father sometimes…. 

Anyway, I promise that I'll have a new chapter up by June 14th at the absolute latest. Hopefully… yeah 

_**I'm so pissed off now. I tried to upload this before I left, but NOOO! The computer wouldn't let me. I'm so sorry about the time lag; computers will be computers, yes?**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. Blah blah blah.Finally home from vacation! God, I was in Hell for a week! Thank the lord I'm home again. Heh, I traumatized my dad, though. I watched Mirage of Blaze in the car… he was like 'are those men kissing!' Hahahahahaha!**

**Oh, also! The comments about Xigbar and Xaldin's relationship that Axel half-chokes out are references to two of the best Xigbar/Xaldin stories I've read. Me no own.**

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Honey, you really need to stop worrying so much. You haven't slept in days and haven't eaten a single thing! I know you're worried about all of this, but you can't neglect your own health because of it!" King Mickey jerked up from where he was sitting, staring blankly out of the widow of a high tower in Disney Castle.

"Gosh, Minnie, how long have you been standing there?" Judging from the exasperated look his wife was giving him, Mickey had just said something he definitely should not have. "I'm sorry, Minnie," he apologized, "I've just been thinking a lot lately. Dumbledore has had those three for a while now and I still haven't heard a word about them. I want to know what those Nobodies are up to."

The queen frowned and placed her gloved hand on her husband's. "Mickey, I'm worried about you. You've changed ever since you got back from The World That Never Was. What happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it right now, Minnie. Please," he added, seeing the protest building up behind her concerned gaze. "I just need a little while alone to think. Can't you give me that much, Minnie?"

"Of course," the queen relented, turning around. "But don't think too much, Mickey. When you think, you don't take good enough care of yourself."

"I know." Mickey watched his wife walk away with a feeling of guilt in his chest. He felt bad for what he was doing; his wife was getting anxious and it was all his fault. But he was the king, dammit! He had responsibilities to his subjects! Else he would put himself in a mental institution for what he was planning on doing.

The mouse walked over to a computer terminal and maximized one of the small bars at the bottom labeled 'H9G9E83W'. The letter was deeply encrypted, apparently his contact was at least paranoid, and he pulled up a second program.

"Tron? I need you to decode a letter for me without reading it. Can you manage that for me?"

The pixilated atomaton gave the king an odd look but immediately set to work on the task assigned to him. As the symbols in the letter began to form actual words, Mickey read over what had been written.

'For once, Your Mousiness, you and are in complete agreement. No matter what, those three Nobodies must _not_ be allowed to learn wizarding magic. I don't suppose you have the authority in that world to limit their experiences or the power that they come into contact with, and that is a very dangerous thing.

'I am willing to release several of my underlings into your command for the _sole_ purpose of detaining the Nobodies in that world. Despite all previous hatred, we have a very much common enemy as it were and must work together if we plan to deter them.'

Ignoring the frosty tone and unnecessarily large words, Mickey took in the basic meaning of the message; Maleficent agreed with him completely. That was a great load off of his chest. He had someone else who was reluctant to see Nobodies with more power.

Oh, he still hated Heartless just as much as he did Nobodies, make no mistake about that, but the Heartless weren't the ones being given sanctuary in a castle full of what was probably the most volatile magic in any of the known worlds.

As far as he knew, with Maleficent not picking up on any new tricks, Sora, Riku, or himself could still banish that dark witch away with a flick of the sword, so she was not really his main concern. Roxas, his bitch, and the memory witch? They were a different story.

Mickey knew for a fact that Maleficent was not helping him to show some kind of good-faith; she wanted the last three Nobodies tucked safely away in their eternal purgatory along with the rest of them and to have the castle at The World That Never Was all to herself. As soon as the trio were locked away, they would never agree on anything again.

But until then?

'I'm glad we're on the same page. Now, here's what I _have_ managed to find out….'

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Why, Mr. Clearwater," Dumbledore stated, airily, "whatever happened to your hair?"

Roxas glared as Axel and Naminè were sent into yet another round of hysterics at the poor fortune of his usually pretty, sandy blonde hair. "I hate your one-ghost 'welcoming committee'. That fucking poltergeist spilled black paint all over me."

Axel snickered behind his hand and slung an arm over his boyfriend's shoulders. "Excuse Roxie's bad language; apparently he thinks that black hair is sexier when it's on Xaldin's head."

"EWW! Nothing about that man was sexy!" Naminè giggled into her hands hysterically and Axel boldly threw his head back and laughed, making some random, choked comment about 'Xigbar', 'dead chicks', and 'strap marks'.

Roxas gagged and Dumbledore carefully raised an eyebrow, certain that the three were well-lost in some kind of private, inside joke.

"Well… well," he tried again, "I must say, you three have made quite an impression before even getting to Hogwarts school. I'm actually subtly impressed. Getting into a row with Mr. Malfoy, blowing up the robe shop, forcing Professor Snape to Obliterate Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Mrs. Granger."

The Nobody leader opted not to point out that one of those three had actually not lost his memories. "We're sorry, Sir. But King Big-Ears did kind of warn you that we don't play well with others. Besides, we've made friends. I mean, Naminè already has a crush."

"Shut up, Roxas!" Naminè squeaked with a blush, shoving him lightly.

Dumbledore smiled, remembering how Severus had told him about Draco's flirting with Naminè before the… explosion. "I see. Be that as it may… Mr. Clearwater, I've heard that you don't have a wand to use at school this year."

"Nope. Olivander said something about my magic not accepting a wand because I have already channeled it into the Keyblades or something? I'm not really sure. And, that doesn't make since; Axel has pumped his magic through his own weapons and gets to have a wand."

"That," Dumbledore stated, "is quite simple to explain. You see, Axel only ever filed one kind of magic into the shurikans. The Keyblades, however, have had fire, ice, time, gravity, lightening, healing, etcetera etcetera, as you put it, 'pumped' through them. They are far more tightly bound to your, and Sora's, magical core."

Roxas cleared his throat. "Don't you mean mine and Sora's magical _cores_?"

"Oh, no," the aging wizard answered, "your magical core. You see, despite that handy little invention of Ansem the Wise, you are still somewhat joined to Sora. To fully separate the two of you… neither of you would survive it. I believe that the exact mechanics of the machine create a soulless clone of Sora for your spirit to possess."

Neither of the two Nobodies whose others were still alive seemed very happy with this revelation, mainly because they didn't want to remain attached to Sora and Kairi's life-forces. When they were combined, it was no big deal, but, for each year that they spent distanced, they were eating away at the time that the others would be able to maintain life.

"I understand your concern," Dumbledore broke in, and Roxas could tell from the misty look in his eyes that the man _did_ actually understand, or at least know, what they were thinking about, "but Sora and Kairi were aware of the risks. They really do care about you both, you know?"

Roxas remained quiet, as did Naminè. Of course they knew. He himself had come to love Sora like a little brother, and had even emerged for just long enough on the brunet's first date, with RIKU, no less, and had threatened the silver-haired teen that if he ever did _anything_ that upset Sora, he would be waking up a female.

Remus coughed discreetly behind his hand. "Excuse me, Headmaster, but shouldn't we be getting to the feast? These three need to be sorted and we should make an appearance for your yearly welcoming speech, yes?"

"Quite right you are, Remus. Would you take the three of them down to Minerva before you come up to the table?"

"Of course." The kind werewolf herded his charges out into the hallway before he started up a conversation with them again. "Nervous?"

"Nah," Axel answered confidently. "From what we've heard, it won't be a big deal. Just have a nosy hat poking around in our brains, be told where we have to sit, go sit, eat, and be done with it. In fact, we already have a bet on what houses we'll end up in."

"Do you?" Remus asked, gently.

"Yeah. I'm figuring Roxas for a Gryffindor, Naminè for a Hufflepuff, and me for a Slyth. Because I'm just evil and sexy that way."

Roxas rolled his eyes, smacking his red-headed boyfriend. "Shut up, Axel. You're such a half-wit. It's no wonder that Saïx and Xaldin invented a game that involved chasing you all over the castle and ripping out strands of your hair; you were stupid enough to let them."

Axel glared at him. Actually glared at him! "You know, Roxas, I may love you to death, but you can quit with the fucking attitude every now and then, okay? I mean, I get away with it because I know when to stop."

Roxas puffed up and prepared to chew his boyfriend a new one before Remus stepped in between them. "Honestly," he berated, "you two are acting like children. You know, when I was younger, I had a lover that I always fought with. We'd get into arguments over stupid things and not make up for days. …He died earlier this year."

"Oh wow." The arguing teens were duly humbled. They weren't stupid; they got Remus's point. "That must be hard," Roxas added, knowing that saying 'sorry' was the most wrong thing you could possibly do.

"It kind of is. But I have things to take my mind off of it, like Harry, for example. He was Harry's godfather." Roxas put a hand on the professor's arm. He found it kind of interesting that he had liked the two professors that he had met so far - Snape and Lupin - despite their differences and, from Lupin's stories, animosity towards each other.

Then he shrugged. He had liked both Demyx and Saïx, hadn't he?

Axel wrapped his arm around Roxas's waist and nuzzled the currently-black locks. "I don't know, I kinda like your hair like this. I mean, sure you're a cute blonde - you're cute all of the time - but the black makes you look goth. Goth and emo are sexy, man. You should wear chains and stuff. Yeah. Bondage pants. That would look really good on you."

Roxas raised an eyebrow, looking at Axel like he was crazy. "I mean, not like the skull-and-crossbone stuff, but, like, The Radiant Garden Crew's stuff. Leon's belts, Cloud's piercings, that kind of thing. You have to admit - no jealousy, Kiddo - that those two are some sex-y men. I mean, Sora's second BL crush was on Leon, right? Of course, the first was Riku."

The Keyblade Nobody raised a hand to stop the rambling. He seriously thought about what Axel was saying. Of course, when he had 'met' the two handsome lovers, he had been forced to admit, before he was even coming to terms with the fact that he had thought Axel was hot, that they were attractive. Could he dress like them, just for a little while? He wondered….

"I'll keep the black hair for a while. If you want me to," he added, feeling Axel reach for his hand.

"Awesome!"

The three were taken to where a group of eleven-year-olds was huddled outside of a large set of wooden doors and a tall, stern-looking woman with her hair in a tight bun stood watching over them. Remus walked right up to her and the two started talking, leaving Roxas, Axel, and Naminè to be the victims of many stares from short people.

"What the hell are you midgets looking at!" Axel demanded, rudely, of a little girl with her red-hair up in a bee-hive. She returned his look squarely and the red-head made a 'bah!' sound under his breath.

Roxas leaned up against him, letting the long arms wind around his hips and talking to Naminè. "So… what are the three of us going to do if we don't end up in the same house? I mean, it would suck if they separated us after _some_ of us just got our best friend back. That would be totally sucky!"

"No kidding. You don't really think that Dumbledore would split us up, do you? I mean, we rely on each other. That's just part of who we are now. Three Nobodies in a somebody world."

"That sounds way too distinctly like something that Demyx would have said. Or written a retarded song about."

Roxas almost responded when the pepper-haired woman interrupted, Remus disappearing past the heavy door. "Students. Beyond this door lies the great hall where all of your meals this year will be taken. Once you pass into that hall, you will officially be students of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will stand in the aisle at the center of the room and wait to be called up to be sorted into your respective houses.

"The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Once you are sorted, you will sit at the table assigned to your house. I am Professor McGonnigal, Deputy Headmistress, Transfiguration teacher, and Head of Gryffindor house. If, during the school year, you need to speak with me, I will be more than willing to lend you an ear."

Roxas almost commented on the idea of a non-Gryffindor talking to the Gryffindor Head of House, but thought better of it just in case she needed to like him. "Mr. Clearwater, Mr. Axion, and Miss Lalane will please line up in the back of the group; you will be sorted apart from the new first years."

The entire group of eleven-year-olds turned around to stare at them and Roxas frowned, watching Axel discretely poke his tongue out at them. 'Little shrimps.'

McGonnigal opened the door to the great hall and everyone filed in, Roxas looping his arms around Axel's effeminately. He didn't mind that a few people stared at him, along with his wild-cat, red-headed lover and pretty, skinny, blonde sister.

Dumbledore walked in, followed by Remus, through the door next to the High Table and tapped a fork against his glass. The second-years and up all turned to the sorting, a couple staring at the three Nobodies. "Oh my God," one girl whispered, "are those two gay!"

McGonnigal disappeared for a few moments and returned with a black, raggedy hat, placing it on the stool perched in front of the teachers' table. Roxas was absolutely floored when a rip in the hat opened up and the accessory began to talk.

Even more, it began to sing!

"What the fuck!" Roxas hissed into Axel's ear. "I might not be the most up-to-date Nobody when it comes to fashion, but, to my memory, hat's don't sing!"

The red-head fisted his hands in his boyfriend's black robes. "No, I don't believe they do. But, you have to remember, we aren't in a world like our own. Maybe hat's do sing here? It wouldn't surprise me; I just wish that Draco would have told us exactly _how_ we were going to be sorted."

"Almond, Janice."

A quaking blonde girl walked up to the stool, sitting down and almost missing the seat. Axel snorted and had to stifle his mirth in Roxas's black hair. She blushed as the hat was placed on her head. However, not more than a few moments passed before the hat opened it's tear and shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Underneath the yellow banner sporting a sharp-toothed badger, the long table applauded for their newest house member.

"Benè, Maria."

Time seemed to stand still as more and more of the new first years went up to the hat, some sitting for over five minutes in their wait to be sorted while others barely had the cloth touch their heads.

"Skapti, Natasha."

The red-haired girl who had been staring at them outside of the hall walked up to the front of the dining hall with confidence, sitting gracefully on the stool and crossing her ankles. She looked up as the hat was placed on her head, staring at the three Nobodies.

"Okay," Roxas muttered, "does anyone else think that chick is a little… off her rocker? You don't think she knows about us, do you!"

"I doubt it," Axel responded in a harsh whisperer, noticing the rise in volume of Roxas's voice and how a few people were staring. "… maybe she thinks I'm hot?"

"Maybe she thinks _I'm_ hot. Jeez, Axel, you aren't the only one out of us with sex appeal or you wouldn't even give me a second glance. No," Roxas added quickly, "I'm not calling you shallow; you just tend to ignore people that don't stand out as much as you do."

"Sadly enough, that's true."

Natasha continued to stare at them as the hat filtered through her mind and Axel frowned. "You know… I would almost swear that I know her. From somewhere… I just can't remember," he finished, looking confused.

They were about to continue their conversation when Dumbledore stood up. "I'm sure by now," his voice boomed over the hall, "that you have noticed a few new students we will be having that are not first years. These three students are sixth years who are transferring into Hogwarts School. I would like for you all to give them your utmost support as they make this adjustment. Minerva?"

"Thank you, Headmaster. Now, the three of you will be sorted. Axion, Elliot!"

Axel gave a deep, heavy sigh and announced, "It's AXEL," between his clenched teeth as he walked up to the stool. McGonnigal gave him a stern look as she placed the hat on his head. Roxas gripped onto Naminè's sleeve as Axel nearly jumped out of his chair, eyes straining upwards as insistently as they could. Something had surprised him.

After a long moment, the hat opened and shouted out, "GRYFFINDOR!" Roxas was honestly a bit surprised by the choice. From how Draco and Harry and Remus had explained the houses to them, he would honestly have pegged Axel for a Slytherin; you know - with all of the scheming, assassinations, and ability to _disperse_ the blame for _any_ incident.

The red-head gave his lover an inquiring look with a raised, pierced brow before he walked over to the Gryffindor table, the very back of it, no less, and flopped down on the bench, giving his two 'siblings' a quick wink.

"Clearwater, Roxas."

The recently-turned black-haired boy walked up to the stool and waited for McGonnigal's sign to sit down. The hat was placed on his head and slipped over his blue eyes, causing him to reach up to fix it.

'Well. What do we have here?' Roxas yelped and almost jumped out of the seat, causing in a wave of laughter at his sake to spread over the room. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, "the hat talks! In your head!"

'I am not 'the hat', thank you very much. You and that young man before you; so rude! I haven't gotten to have more than a few good conversations in centuries, and people insist on insulting me every time they get the chance. How would you like it if I was mean to you?'

'Sorry,' Roxas apologized, more than a bit freaked out to have someone or something talking inside of his head… again.

'Well… that's - that's quite alright. Now, I believe that you need to be sorted properly. I can see you are surprised as to where your friend ended up. Perhaps you would like to be placed with him, but I don't think that you really belong in Gryffindor. You are intelligent, no doubt, but more for your experiences than your interest in knowledge. You are brave and self-sacrificing but also no fool. I could very likely see you in Gryffindor, but something in my brim tells me that you would not reach your full potential there.'

Roxas had to bite back his comment about having never spoken to a more indecisive hat before in his life, simply because he was the only one who would find it funny. And he didn't want to be shoved into the house that was worst for him as retribution.

'I suppose I have no choice. SLYTHERIN!"

He frowned as the hat was plucked off of his head and he went to sit down at the table which housed a sole friend, Draco, and that sole friend's posse of, apparently, non-pureblood hating, primpy little bitches and boulders and Roxas realized that he would probably not be making that many friends from his own house.

"Lalane, Naminè!"

The shy blonde girl walked up to the front of the room. Roxas and Axel exchanged looks from across the dining hall and Axel rolled his eyes, winking at him. The hat barely fell over the top of her head before declaring, "RAVENCLAW!"

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**Well, there you go! They're sorted! Oh, and, Ai no Miko-san? I did read your request and I like the idea. I just needed to get the actual 'sorting' stuff out of the way, first... I promise, your second request is coming in the next chapter! Thank you!**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Thank Faded Nights for fixing my horrible spelling errors! I just really hate to actually flip through the books to find correct spellings of things… irresponsible, I know, but it saves the time it takes for me to write a chapter, yes?

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Roxas waited until Dumbledore had finished his Welcoming Speech and had announced the return of Professor Lupin - most of the Slytherins, Roxas aside, had opted not to clap - and trays of food magically appeared on the table. He noticed that a great amount of it had strayed from the center of the section down towards where he sat alone.

However, he turned his nose up at the steaks and casseroles, filling his plate with a fresh garden salad and some fruit before he even realized what he was doing. When he did notice, he scooped out a bit of a meat pie onto his plate.

"Well, _I_ can't believe," someone started loudly, "that Professor Snape is letting them put a mud blood in our house!" Roxas chomped down harder than he meant to on his fork-full of lettuce and turned a glare on Puggy Parkington - wasn't that her name? - who was speaking loudly around a bit of bread, glass held in between the thick fingers of her other hand.

Needless to say, the Keyblade wielder was less-than-impressed.

"Just let it alone, Pansy," Draco spoke up firmly. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Besides, we've gotten mud bloods before."

"That's true," a rat-like, black-haired boy commented, "I put a Galleon that this one doesn't make it through the week."

Most of the people around Draco burst into laughter and even the blond boy managed to make a little laugh. Roxas just continued to coolly munch on his dinner, catching a pair of emerald green eyes from across the room. Axel smiled and wrinkled his nose, cutely, looking a bit bored. Just as Roxas was about to mouth something about 'how this couldn't suck any more than it already does', Harry walked up to Axel and started talking to him.

'Oh sure,' Roxas thought a bit unkindly, 'Axel gets friends in his house; I get a group of people calling me 'mud blood' and Draco, who is, apparently, too much of a pansy-boy to go against the group.'

He took a bite of the meat pie and found that, for containing random animal parts, it wasn't that bad. Shrugging, he continued to munch on his dinner, trying to pretend that he was totally unaffected by some of the loud bursts of conversation that came from the other end of the Slytherin table where he was the main topic of conversation.

"You don't really think he and that other boy are poufs, do you! Just what Slytherin needs! A mud blood faggot smelling up our dorms!"

Oh, Roxas lost it!

"EXCUSE ME!" He stood up from the table and walked up to the smart-mouthed boy who was not only taller than he was, probably older than he was, and more built than he was, and grabbed his shoulder. 'Fuck calm!' "Say that to my face, asshole!"

"Roxas, let it go," Draco warned, trying to keep peace between the Nobody and the upperclassman. Unfortunately, neither of the other two was trying to make his job easy.

"You heard what I said, you fairy!" The seventh-year slammed his hands down on the table and the dishes jumped with a clatter, drawing attention to the rising conflict along the Slytherin table. Axel and Naminè both left their own tables to hurry over, watching Roxas for any signs of Nobody energy.

"Keep it street, Kiddo. We don't need a death on our hands this early in the year." Surprisingly, Axel seemed totally non-concerned that Roxas was about to get into a fight with someone that much bigger than he was without his Keyblades.

However, Roxas knew that, whether he remembered it or not, he had kicked the asses of much more domineering bastards before. Pulling back a fist, he slammed it upwards into his opponent's nose.

"You little bitch!" the seventh-year shrieked, hand immediately clamping over his bleeding proboscis. Every single eye in that room was on the pair about to 'engage in combat'. The older Slytherin began to dig in his robes for his wand and Roxas remembered some of the effects the wooden sticks had caused in Olivander's shop. Resolutely, the now-black-haired Nobody pounced, sending the other onto the floor in a flurry of swipes and punches.

"NO, Roxas!" Naminè cried out, trying to get into the fray to look after her brother, even with Axel's arms around her holding her back so that she wouldn't get hurt. "Draco, do something! They're going to get hurt!"

"What can I do!" the blonde demanded, looking just as worried simply because he should have expected something like that to happen after the way his 'friends' had talked to Roxas earlier.

Professor Snape shoved his way through the building crowd and grabbed Roxas by the back of his black robes, hauling him off of the thoroughly whipped seventh year. He caught a clip to the jaw by mistake and Roxas froze, realizing what he had accidentally just done.

"Mr. Clearwater!" Snape ground out, "Your first night here and you have the audacity to get into a knock-down, drag-out fight with an upperclassman! Detentions! For both of you! Clearwater, come with me!"

Roxas tried to squeak out a protest as Snape grabbed him by the arm and hauled him out of the Great Hall by the arm, Naminè and Axel both complaining at the 'kidnapping' of their friend as loudly as he was. Snape ignored them and dragged Roxas down innumerable flights of stairs until it was freezing cold and the professor dragged him into an office, closing the door behind them.

"You couldn't help yourself, could you, Clearwater? Your first night here, you get sorted into the one house I did not expect you to be - mine! - and make enemies out of well over… all of your housemates. Needless to say, you're well on the way to ostracizing yourself from Slytherin.

"However," he added, raising a slender hand to stop the rebuttal Roxas was about to spout off, "I am proud of you for not resorting to use of your Keyblades. Headmaster Dumbledore informed me that you did not receive a magic wand. That means that we will have to transfigure one of your Keyblades into a wand for you to use during the year. It would not do," he explained, "for you to pull out a sword in every class."

Reluctantly, the Nobody agreed and looked at the two Keyblades hooked onto his belt. Finally, he pulled out Oathkeeper, which he knew had much better magical capabilities. "This one, Sir."

"Very well." Snape pulled out his own wand. "Truncheon!" Oathkeeper writhed, actually became rubbery and squirmed on the desk, before going into rigor and shrinking down to a thin, white stick with one yellow stripe around the end. "There you go, Mr. Clearwater."

"Thank you, Professor Snape," Roxas responded, stuffing the white wand into his pocket.

"…." Snape didn't answer, unused to any of his students actually giving a shit about what he did for them. "… Well, Headmaster Dumbledore wanted myself and the heads of house for your two friends about the extra classes that most students take. Now, personally, I would rather see you spending at least one of the two classes being tutored by a sixth or seventh year, or even a professor, so that you can catch up with the rest of your peers."

"Oh," Roxas commented, easily. "I didn't even know there were electives, so it's no skin off of my back, I guess. So now I pick one class?" he asked. "What are Axel and Naminè taking?"

The teacher did not answer for a long moment. "I don't know, Mr. Clearwater. I haven't found out yet. The other professors have not, and probably will not, tell me. Normally, a teacher would take this moment to talk about how 'you need to develop a personality away from your friends', but I'm not going to do that." Roxas gave him a 'well GOOD' look. "Instead, I'm going to make you sit right here until you decide.

"These are your options: Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Ruins, Divination, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies. Not as many options as there were before, but we are in the middle of a war. Do any of these sound-," he sneered the next word, "interesting to you?"

Roxas sat there and considered his options. 'It would just be fucking stupid,' he concluded, 'to take a class about muggles when the 'muggle' world is all I've known, even if it is in pieces. Ancient Ruins - when in the hell will I need that? "Sir? What exactly does 'Care of Magical Creatures' include?"

"Well," Snape answered, "generally you go outside to pet the man-eating monsters that the resident giant keeps tethered to a tree and hope not to loose a limb. Your friend, Draco Malfoy, almost lost an arm to an eagle-horse hybrid. I wouldn't suggest that class to anyone who planned to live to the end of the year."

"That's nice," Roxas responded in his usual, non-caring, smart-assed way. "Well… I guess I'll take Divination then. With Sora being the Chosen One, he'll need all of the help he can get. Besides, I always wanted to know what job I'll have when I grow up."

The professor looked very ready to try and talk the black-haired Nobody out of his choice but sighed resolutely and marked it down. "Very well. Trelawney will have a book for you in her classroom in your first class with her. I'll hand out your schedule tomorrow morning. For now, go down to the Slytherin Dorms. There will be a brass plate over a door with 'R. Clearwater' on it. Along with your roommates. Yes, you have roommates," he added, "get over it."

"Aw, dammit," Roxas commented, lightly. Honestly, he didn't give a flying, but he had seen how pleasant his peers were and would be damned if he would take any crap from them.

"Don't worry. I put you with Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. You met them; they won't eat you. Go down to the dungeons and you'll find a tapestry of, believe it or not, the Heartless Symbol. A little way down, you'll find the Nobody symbol. Dumbledore set that up for you. The password is 'Hallowed'."

"Thank you, Sir." Roxas had to note that, away from the stress of stupid students and what-not, Snape was almost mild and pleasant.

"Don't thank me; just get out!"

Note Roxas thought 'almost'.

"Yes, Sir." The Nobody stood up and tilted his head before turning and walking out of the office firmly and managing to locate the stairs in the middle of the castle. Several of them lead down while others lead up. He shrugged and stepped on one of the down ones.

The second he put a foot on it, however, the staircase began to move! Roxas yelped and collapsed onto his ass, sliding downwards until he managed to hook his arms around one of the bars. When the motion finally stopped, he got to his feet with a flushed, false-haughty look on his face. "Okay, from now on I'm taking the fucking elevator."

He stood on unsteady legs and managed to rush down a few more flights of stairs before they began to move again, casing a similar but less-panicked reaction. 'Of course Bat-Man couldn't warn me about the stairs, now could he?' He finally found one of the tapestries that he had been told about and stared in between them.

"Um… Oh, shit. Uh… Hallowed!" He jerked in surprise as a door formed on the wall in between the cloths, just large enough for him to slip through. "Nice," Roxas murmured, making his way inside.

Most of the Slytherins in the common room turned to stare at him, several with sneers on their lips. "What the hell are you looking at?" he demanded in a tone only wrought from spending far too much time with Saïx and Xemnas.

No one came out and said anything so he headed down the torch-lit hallways, trying to find the sixth-year rooms. Finally, he located the plate stating, in curvy print:

'R. Clearwater

D. Malfoy

B. Zabini'

Pushing open the door, Roxas poked his head in and saw the blonde and black-haired boy rearranging the room that they had been given. "Roxas," Draco greeted, calmly. "I'm sure you remember Blaise. Make nice, you two; I'm not refereeing this whole damn year."

"I have no problems with him," Blaise stated coolly and Roxas found that his voice was not totally undesirable. Not that he had a crush on him or anything; he just noticed weird stuff like that. "As long as he doesn't try to bust my face in like he did to McQueer."

"Georges McKing," Draco added. "Don't worry much about it; he's an asshole. Just give him another shiner if he tries to start anything with you. Inevitably, he will. The rest of his little fan-group will glare and hiss, but their barks are worse than their bites."

Roxas nodded in acceptance. "Great, great."

He walked over to the trunk at the foot of the only bed not cluttered with objects, assuming correctly that it was his. He shifted his clothes out of the way and pulled out his books, trying to find a more convenient place to store them. "Hey, Draco!" he snapped, "Show me how to make a bookcase for my shit, okay?"

Blaise cut in before Draco could make some smart-ass comment about how much he 'freakin' HATED Transfiguration'. "Put something you don't give a fuck about on the floor, flick your wand and say 'protuberancium'."

The black-haired Nobody followed the orders and found five shelves staring back at him. "Hell yeah!" he commented, shoving the books where they belonged. "You know, you're alright, Zabini."

"Yeah, same, I guess." Blaise stretched out on his own bed, rolling onto his stomach and resting his head on his knuckles. "Gotta admit, it was funny as sin when you beat the fuck out of McKing. I hate that bastard," he added.

"Yeah, well, he's my favorite person too if you haven't heard." Roxas turned back his own covers and laid down, throwing an arm over his eyes.

"No kidding. Hey, Roxas?" Draco started in suddenly, "are you and Axel really… you know, queens? Nothing against, but I'm just curious. I mean, Axel's probably a handful to deal with. He seems like he's two eggs short of a dozen, doesn't he?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no shit. But Naminè will probably help me clasp a leash on him if he gets too worked up."

"Oh yeah," Blaise commented, "that chick that was with you guys. Blonde, little? Damn, she was pretty bloody cute. Kinda am hoping you and Red are gay; gives me more of a chance with your little princess."

Draco opened his mouth to comment before clicking his teeth shut. Roxas watched him out of the corner of his eye. 'Oh, now I get it. Two best friends with a crush on their roommates 'sister'. Shitty luck for them. Well, for Blaise, anyway; Nammy seemed pretty content with Draco the other day.'

"Try anything with my sister and I'll beat the shit out of you," he responded nonchalantly.

He reached down to his robes and slipped them off, revealing his red shirt and khakis. When the shirt had been discarded and thrown in the general direction of his trunk, he slipped off the necklace that contained Axel's orb, hanging it on his bedpost.

"Okay, enough talking. I'm so tired, I'm about to pass out. It's bedtime for Roxas." He rolled over and hugged his pillow, burying his face and falling quickly to sleep. 'Damn,' he thought airily, 'this has already been a pain in the ass and I haven't even started classes yet.'

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Axel shrugged as McGonagall listed out the extra classes that would be available for him. "I guess you can't just shove me with Nammy or Kiddo, huh? Well… I guess Care of Magical Creatures sounds pretty cool. I wanted to get a pet before I came here, but Roxas hates cats…. Yeah, sign me up for that, please."

"As you wish, Mr. Axion. I will hand out your schedule in the morning. Until then, you may go to Gryffindor Tower and get associated with your peers. You will find a picture of a woman in a pink dress. Tell her the password, 'turbulent', and she will let you in. From there, I'm sure you can find your room. You'll have five roommates, so I suggest you be pleasant."

"Yes'm." Axel stood up and inclined his head respectfully, recognizing the dismissal for what it was. He headed up to the Gryffindor Tower, ignoring the stares that he received from other students along the way. He was used to being gaped at with his wild appearance anyway.

"Um… hey, you!" he called out to the red-headed girl that Roxas had introduced him to earlier. She was standing in the hallway talking to a group of students that looked to be about her own age. "Jessie or something, wasn't it?"

"Ginny. And you're Axel! I'm glad that you got sorted into Gryffindor. I kinda wish that Roxas was here, too. That would be neat. Anyway, what did you need?"

"I need someone to tell me how to get into Gryffindor Tower. Prof. McGonagall said 'painting of a chick in a dress' and I'm sure there are about seventy of them in this hallway alone."

Ginny nodded with a smile. "At least. What you're really looking for it the portrait of the Fat Lady. I'll show you where it is. Come on. Sorry, Colin, Luna. I need to help him; he's Roxas's boy, you know?" The two smiled and Ginny took the black-gloved hand in hers, leading him with gentle tugs. "They're Roxas's friends, too. Luna has been raving about the necklace she made for him, with this little red ball in it."

Axel grinned. "Awesome! I was hoping that he hadn't just shoved it somewhere. It was the very first thing I ever gave him. Actually," he laughed, "it was also the first time I hit on him. Kind of a 'you can have this until I can keep you warm'."

Ginny giggled lightly. "Oh I see. That's cute. Hey, Axel, what happened to Roxas's hair? I had to bite my lip so I wouldn't say anything when he first walked in."

"Jeez… this ghost or something spilled black paint aaaaaaaaaaallll over him. Professor Puppy tried to clean him off but left his hair black!"

"Professor Puppy? What?" Ginny laughed, slowing to loop her arm through Axel's. "You mean Remus Lupin, right? He's such a fun teacher. I was only in second year when he taught here before and he was the best teacher we've ever had. Not to mention that he's a friend of my parents'. I can't wait to see what he brings to class this year! Oh! Here's the portrait!"

Axel looked up and saw that Ginny had not been kidding about the 'Fat Lady'. "Yo!" he greeted. "Hi. … M'Axel. Uh… password, password. Shit… OH! Duh! Turbulent!"

"Yes, well done," the Fat Lady commented blandly. She swung open and revealed a giant whole in the wall that Ginny lead him through.

Axel looked around the red and gold colored common room with a slight bit of distaste. "Wow, talk about abusing your color scheme." He looked around and saw Harry sitting with his two best friends by the fire, talking with arms flailing.

"Hey, Harry!" Axel chirped, slinging an arm around his neck and flopping down in the be-glassed boy's lap. "You must be Ron and Hermione, then. Hi… I'm Axel. Just Axel. Nice to meet ya." He extended his hand to the other red-headed boy, who, he remembered, had been the one to drag him away after he blew up the store.

"Same," Ron replied, shaking Axel's gloved hand. "Must be hard, huh? Transferring into a new school where everyone knows everyone and no one knows you."

The Nobody shrugged. "I guess. I can tell you this; it would be a lot worse without Roxie and Naminè. I'm worried about them. I kinda look out for them, I guess. Always have. Hell, Sora would kick my ass again if I let anything happen to either of them."

Hermione blinked and closed the book in her lap. "So you've known them for a really long time, then? That's great, that you all got invited to Hogwarts together."

"Yeah, great," Axel replied with a light-hearted eye roll. "I'll make sure to have the Radiant Garden Crew send Mickey a fruit basket. Speaking of the Radiant Garden Crew, I wonder how they're doing with Sora back on Destiny Island…." The red-headed Nobody faded out, musing to himself.

Harry and his friends exchanged a look over the figure still flopped down in his lap. 'Who the hell is this freak?' Ron mouthed, eyebrows drawn tight. Harry just shrugged. Well, at least the year wouldn't be boring.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Still no own.

Okay, I've come to the conclusion that my reviewers are way too fucking intuitive. I can't pull anything over on you guys! I'm not going to specify because that would ruin all of the fun, but I just wanted to comment on that. It's mean! Kinda… secretly I like it.

Oh, and a reviewer commented on the Americanization of the Harry Potter crew… SORRY! But it's been thirteen years since I lived in Britain and can't remember any of the lingo, heh. My bad!

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A large circle was formed by the men in their black cloaks and face-concealing masks as they stood in front of a much more domineering figure. "And you couldn't bring me this information before it was too late to do anything about it, you bumbling imbecile!" the leader demanded, thin nostrils flaring with anger.

"I'm sorry," the man knelt before him simpered out. "I only just found out about it! My source didn't tell me until just now. He probably wouldn't have told me at all if he knew that I was going to repeat it."

"I couldn't really care less, Brady. Making excuses for your actions does not fix them. Though I am beginning to get a bit curious about this informant of yours. What use is he if he can't tell you things until you cannot use them? I would suggest giving him a warning as to what happens to those who are not useful to our cause."

The man sighed, pleased that he wasn't about to be killed for someone else's screw up. "Yes, Master! I will take care of it immediately!"

Voldemort sneered, hearing the relief in the man's tone. "Of course you will. However, I feel it necessary to remind you exactly why you report information like this to me and not to some other Lord. Crucio!" While Daniel Brady burst into pained shrieks, Voldemort reached out to stroke Nagini's head.

_"Nobodies, eh. What an interesting concept. Neither dead, nor alive, nor ghosts. Powerful creatures forever balancing on the edge of 'Oblivion'; without hearts but still able to feel. I must admit, they sound quite fascinating, don't they, Nagini?"_

The snake hissed her agreement. Voldemort continued to pet her. "Lucius, come here!" he demands, sharply.

Moving elegantly, catlike, Lucius Malfoy walked up to the Dark Lord. "You wanted something, Master?"

"Yes, I did. I want you to find out everything you can about these Nobodies. I get the feeling that their power is even more phenomenal than was hinted at. There are supposedly thirteen of them; I don't think thirteen powerful creatures such as they would simply disappear from existence. Learn everything there is to know about them. Find them. I want them."

The blonde bowed with far-too-much exaggerated grace. "Of course, Master. I will do so right away." With the vague hand motion that suggested he was free to go, he apparated away from the clearing that Voldemort had used for the Death Eater meeting that night and into Diagon Alley.

"Find out everything I can about 'Nobodies'. I wonder if Brady was even telling the truth or just making up a tall tale. Well, the best place to find out would be the bookstore." He walked inside, the little bell jingling, and an assistant - the same one that his son had tormented not long before - came out of the back.

"I'm looking for anything you have that… actually, no." Lucius stepped towards the desk and picked up one of the newest innovations to the wizarding-world's bookkeeping system; the Automatic Index. He picked up a quill of ink and wrote out the words, 'Nobody', 'Nobodies', 'Heartless', 'Organization', and 'XIII'.

The book immediately filled with any and every book that contained any of those things.

'Wonderful,' Lucius thought to himself, 'as if though there aren't innumerable books containing any of those words for me to look through.' He tapped the book and the items rearranged themselves until they finally settled into how many of the entries were contained in the same context. There were less that 10.

Lucius picked the one at the top and attempted to find it. The books were in order on the shelves by authors' last names, and the book in question was by 'Maylord'.

"Let's see. Mayfrom, Mayharrow, empty space, Maynar. Wait a minute." He looked at the empty space as if though to punish it for not holding the book that he wanted. "Excuse me! Attendant!"

Quickly, the man appeared around the corner. "Yes, Mister Malfoy?"

"What happened to The DiZ Reports compiled by Innes Maylord?"

The shopkeeper tried to bite back a comment about the irony. "Someone bought it a little while ago. I'm afraid that it was the only copy we had." He almost told Lucius that the person who had purchased it was there with his son, then decided not to make the blonde's time any easier.

"What about The Twilight Zone: World That Never Was?"

"Also bought a little while ago," the clerk responded thoughtfully. 'Wasn't that one also bought by the same boy with Malfoy Jr.? Interesting that he would come in looking for the same books.'

"The Grimiore of Yen Sid?"

"Same."

"What do you have?" Lucius demanded angry. 'What in the hell happened to all of these books! Did someone else get the books before I did! Who else would know to look for them!'

Plucking the book from the thin, pale hands, he looked over the list. "I think we still have this one; A Brief Overview of Fake Committees. Reynolds." He handed it back to him and let the blonde look for it himself.

Lucius frowned but managed to locate the book, the final book on the list, and plucked it from the shelves as if though it might disappear like the other nine had. "I'll take this one!" he snapped at the clerk, setting it on the counter.

As the little worker-man finished up the purchasing process, Lucius picked up the book and began to search through it, figuring that 'learn everything you can about them' translated to 'yes, you can read the damn book'.

_'Organization Thirteen:_

_'A group of people who call themselves 'Nobodies' to separate themselves from the rest of society. They are a group of magicians, not wizards **see page 357 for 'Magician's Society** and the Nobodies of Organization Thirteen use spirits to carry out their plans. In an attempt to create a new society, they committed a series of mysterious murders. These murders included the 'stealing' of the hearts of their victims, nicknamed 'Heartless'._

_'They believed that hearts were a source of energy and collected the power of them through a spell called 'Kingdom of Hearts.' The spell, when canceled, releases the hearts trapped inside. What happens to the released hearts is unknown.'_

_'The group was disassembled and all thirteen members put to death at the hands of a powerful muggle.'_

-- Yes, I know it's not all true, but what would wizards know about Organization XIII, I mean, really? --

The scowl on the blonde's lips only increased. "No kidding, a brief overview. I'm going to have to look in every other bookstore I can _find_ or I'm going to get myself killed!"

"What was that, Mr. Malfoy?" the clerk inquired.

"Nothing, you plebian! Just tell me the total so I can get out of this piss-poor excuse for a shop. Really, if this were not the only half-way near competent place to get books in Diagon Alley, I would never soil my shoes."

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Roxas woke up early in the morning with a throbbing headache. "Come on! Get up! Up!" He yelped and tumbled to the floor when his bed jerked sharply under him, the sheets tangling around his feet and legs.

The other two Slytherins in the room burst into hysterical laughter at his predicament. "Jeez! If I had known you were so bloody uncoordinated, I wouldn't have kicked you to wake you up. You were about to sleep straight through breakfast - lazy bum. Now come on!" Draco dropped a pile of clothes on top of the form trying to disentangle itself. "Dress and we'll get food."

"Stupid platinum asshole… tear you a new one with Oblivion," Roxas complained as he pulled on a pair of black jeans and threw his robe and tie on over. "You just remember this, Draco Malfoy; I have a pretty damn good bit of influence over whether or not you get something you want. Got it?"

Draco complained and bitched but left Roxas alone to get himself dressed. "So today is the first day of class, huh? Hopefully it won't be too hard. No one has really taught me any magic yet. I've just watched other people do it. I hope that those tutoring lessons with Snape pay off quickly."

"Private sessions with Snape? Hope he doesn't tear your face off for answering a question wrong; he can be a little intense, you know." Blaise smirked as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Yeah right. I have, uh-," he froze and stuttered over the mention of Oblivion still clipped to his hip, "a good reason for him not to kill me. Besides, Dumbledore brought us here, himself, and isn't Snape supposed to do everything the old man says?"

"There's the key word, princess; 'supposed' to. Everybody knows that we have a certain disregard for rules down here. And, trust me, he _was_ a Slytherin before they let him baby-sit our arses all year. Not like he actually wanted that part of the job; personally, I think the old bat hates students. Just hates Gryffindors worst."

"Really?" Roxas asked, straightening out his still darker-than-usual spikes. "Sucks for Axel, then. I think he actually kinda liked Snape. I do, too; he reminds me of some of our old friends. Haughty, self-important, used to being obeyed on command, a bit sadistic. Heh," Roxas murmured out, "'holy shit, Xemnas and Saïx had a baby!'"

Draco tried to muffle a chuckle - he had learned something about the other Organization members from hearing the three Nobodies converse about their 'friends'-slash-OMFG-I-hate-you-so-much-acquaintances.

"Anyway… come on you slow-pokes. I'm starving over here! By the time you get ready to go, you primpers, all of the food will be gone!" Blaise turned and stormed out of the room while Roxas finished up, grabbing the necklace and slipping it over his neck, following so that he wouldn't get lost.

When they finally made it to the Great Hall, they saw that most of the students had already sat down at their respective tables and that the room was practically bursting. Draco and Blaise didn't hesitate to saunter over to the Slytherin table and take the two seats at the middle of the table. Roxas was about to follow them when he realized that someone - most likely the upperclassman he had pummeled - had taken the courtesy to remove every extra chair so that, to stay with his classmates, Roxas would have to stand like a dumb-ass.

'Gee, and here I was thinking that we would be above childish pranks like this. How mature we are.' Roxas chanced a firm glare at the smirking Georges McKing. Biting back the comments he could have made, realizing that the same grin was spreading across the lips of some of the others, he walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, waiting for Axel and Harry.

A few people stared as the Slytherin boy sat down at the Gryffindor table but no one dared to say anything after seeing the Nobody beat the Hell out of the seventh-year the night before. When Axel and the Golden Trio walked in, Roxas heard a pleased sound as Axel practically tackle-glomped his back.

"Good morning, Kiddo," Axel stated, easily, sitting down next to the blonde and pressing a soft, particularly chaste kiss to Roxas's lips. "I missed you last night. It just wasn't as easy to sleep without hearing your soft, snuffley little snores."

"I don't snore, you jerk!" Roxas bit, smacking the red-head on the arm. "Gods, sometimes I hate you, you twit." However, he leaned against Axel, resting his head on the firm chest. "I share a room with Draco and Blaise Zabini. And I think they both have crushed on Naminè."

"Seriously? That's sucky. Cause we both know that she's only interested in Draco." The two settled in gently, two plates of sausage and bacon and biscuits and other breakfast foods appearing on the table in front of them. Roxas immediately plucked up his tray and dug in.

"Yeah. Anyway, that dude that I beat up last night got rid of my chair, so I decided, 'hey, this is a blessing in disguise; I'll go sit with Axel'. I hope you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" Axel husked out, forgoing food for the even more delectable taste of Roxas's skin. "Oh Gods, I love you, Roxas. You're so wonderful." He parted his lips and sank his teeth into the supple flesh, earning a deep, throaty moan.

Someone nearby cleared his throat and Roxas managed to crack his eyes open to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione staring at them in shock.

"I knew there was something weird about him," Ron announced, "but I wasn't expecting to have to eat breakfast with that going on beside me."

Roxas glared at him, managing to shove Axel away. "Don't start. I got my ass chewed last night because of beating up that McKing guy, and I kinda like Harry. I don't want to make him hate me because I turned you into mince-meat as well."

Ron glared at him but did not respond so Roxas contented himself to talk to the other two. "Hi. Nice to see you again, Harry. I guess this must be Hermione? I'm Roxas Clearwater. Nice to meet you."

Hermione tried to smile as openly as she could seeing that Axel seemed very disinclined with the idea of removing himself from Roxas. "It's nice to meet you as well." She offered him her hand and Roxas smacked Axel, hard, before taking it with a charming, disarming smile.

Professor McGonagall walked down the table, handing out schedules, when she saw the Slytherin boy being groped on by her new student. "M-Mr. Clearwater! Students are supposed to take meals with their own houses, not just with their friends!"

"Sorry," Roxas commented, not sounding too much like he meant it. "There wasn't enough room for me at my own table, _and_ I missed Axel last night. I'm not in trouble am I?" he asked, using the time-proven trick of making his eyes as wide as he could and pretending that he had the baby-face of one Sora Clearwater.

Apparently, McGonagall was immune.

"You should be. However, Headmaster Dumbledore had informed the staff that, because of an odd home situation, your relationships with Mr. Axion and Miss Lalane are to be weighed differently than others. For that reason alone, this one time, you are excused. Professor Snape will undoubtedly bring you your schedule."

Roxas shrugged off her comments as he finished up his food, noticing that Axel's plate hadn't even been touched. "Hey, freak, eat something, will ya? You're too damn skinny as it is," he added, recalling how horrible Axel had looked in Diagon Alley when he had taken his shirt off.

"I'm never really that hungry when I first wake up in the morning unless, like, I've puked or something, Kiddo. Actually, if I eat too much, I probably will get sick. And that would suck."

The smaller Nobody was about to respond when someone hugged him around the neck from behind. "Morning, Naminè," he greeted, putting a hand on the choke-hug he was receiving.

"Good morning, boys. I see that you two took the time to make it a real 'good' morning without caring that your sissy was all by her lonesome with the smart peoples." She kissed Roxas on the cheek before doing the same for Axel, plopping down on the red-head's other side.

Roxas noticed that the boy, Harry's friend, Ron wasn't it, was staring at Naminè, who had put a sparkly butterfly clip in her hair to keep it out of her eyes and was wearing the bracelet he had bought her, with an odd look on his face.

'Great,' he thought, 'another one. Draco, Blaise, and now Ron. I don't know what to do with this girl sometimes.' However, he braved up and introduced the girl to Ron and Hermione.

"Hey, did you guys get your schedules yet?" Naminè inquired, brightly, pulling her own out from inside her robes and smiling at the boys.

Axel shrugged. "McGonagall set it on the table. But I wanted to wait until Roxas had his until I looked at it." Almost as if summoned by the red-head's words, Snape walked over with a frown on his lips and shoved a paper at Roxas.

"Gryffindors," he muttered, walking away without a second glance.

Roxas rolled his eyes, smiling at the back of the bat-like professor. "Well, I guess we can look at our schedules now, can't we?" He picked his up and Axel held his own against it.

"Potions, potions-," he grabbed Naminè's schedule, "…charms. Okay, so Axel and I first. Transfiguration, charms, transfiguration. Me and Naminè. … Oh, wow, Nammy, you opted for divination, too?"

"Aww, really!" Axel complained, "I was hoping that you guys were in the fuzzy class with me! Had I known that you were taking a different class, I would have signed up with you!"

The younger boy laughed. "I think that was probably the point, Axel. It's total coincidence that Nammy and I are together; Snape swore that he had no idea what classes that you guys were going to be taking."

"I got the same thing," Naminè nodded.

"Damn!"

In the end, Roxas had Potions, Herbology, and History of Magic with Axel, and Transfiguration and Divination with Naminè. Roxas was so relieved that he had friends in the mass majority of his classes - he was only alone in Charms.

"Well," Hermione said, chirping happily, "we might want to finish up breakfast."

"Yeah," Ron added, "If we aren't on time for Professor Snape's class, he'll probably take a hundred points away from Gryffindor and an extra fifty for good measure."

"Fun fun. See ya, Nammy." Roxas leaned forward and kissed her on the corner of the mouth, receiving a pinch on the thigh from his jealous boyfriend. "Ouch! Damn it, Axel, she's our sister! Grow up, you green eyed monster."

Axel offered his arm to Roxas who rolled his eyes but took it gracefully, looking to the Golden Trio to show them the way. Luckily, they arrived in the room before Snape.

"Where are we supposed to sit?" Roxas asked Harry, who had already moved to a table of his own near the back corner of the room. When he received a shrug and an apologizing smile as an answer, he rolled his eyes and looked to Draco, who was already sitting by Blaise, chatting about something with sneers on their faces as they looked at the Malfoy boy's two friends.

"Like, wow, Kiddo," Axel piped up, slinging an arm over his shoulders and almost sending the blonde boy to the floor with the unexpected weight, "I'm so honored that you want to be my potions partner!"

Roxas rolled his eyes and shoved the red-head off. "I don't. No offense, love, but your favorite pass-time is blowing things to Kingdom come. Ergo, not the most promising partner in a class whose purpose is to mix things together and not create an explosion."

"Aw, dammit." Axel pouted cutely and gave Roxas a puppy look with his gargantuan emerald eyes. "Please, please, please give me a chance!"

"Okay, okay," Roxas consented, smacking the needy boy on the top of the head. "But you make one thing blow up and you'll be working alone. My grades aren't suffering because you like to see what happens when you add fire."

"Sir, yes Sir! As you wish, Sir! I've joined the corps to help me straighten out my life, SIR!" A couple of people dared to laugh before they realized exactly what was happening; a GRYFFINDOR was hanging off of a SLYTHERIN!

Scandal!

The two managed to slide into chairs right before Snape burst into the room, cloaks flowing behind him as if though they had a life of their own. "Class has begun; get into your seats and stop talking." As if though anyone had been doing anything but.

"Seeing as this is the first class this year - and Headmaster Dumbledore refused to let me drop the incompetent students who could not manage to get an Outstanding on their O.W.L.S. - we'll start off with something simple. Or at least," he added with a dark grin at the side of the room primarily occupied by Gryffindors, "should be simple if you have half of a brain in your heads."

"Joyous," Axel commented under his breath as Snape tapped the board and a set of instructions appeared on the board and he told them to get what they needed from the back. "Do you have any idea what this stuff is?"

"Oh, of course I do, Axel," Roxas responded with an eye-roll, just grabbing what everyone else did, "after all, I'm the one out of us that _remembers_ Vexen's labs. Did he not manage to pass on any words of sage wisdom before you assassinated his ass?"

"No, but he did almost manage to fuck up the Organization's plans by telling Sora about you. Does that count?"

Roxas snorted a laugh and sat down at the table, at least managing to get the burner going under the cauldron full of water. "Well, step one accomplished."

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"Can you believe it, Harry?" Ron asked, angrily, as he diced the roots in front of him into little cubes to be added to the potion, "Snape says that he's giving us an easy potion. We should have known better! That man just loves to torture us, doesn't he, Harry?"

"Huh?" the boy-wonder inquired, looking up from the powder he was grinding on the table. "Oh. Yeah."

"Yeah!" Ron started in on another whispered tirade against the potion master who walked around the room leering into cauldrons and pointing out every Gryffindor mistake he saw.

Harry tried not to wince as the over-zealous red-head chopped up the roots into every shape except the cubes that they were supposed to be. Even a horrible potion-maker like himself could catch a mistake that obvious. "Ron? Ron! Those are supposed to be cubes."

"Oh… yeah." As he set about to fixing which pieces he could, Harry looked around the room to hear how other students were doing on the project. What exactly was it supposed to look like? Harry wasn't sure; no one seemed to be getting it correct.

Snape made his way around the classroom as the flame under Harry's cauldron turned blue, signaling that it was time to add the next ingredients. He quickly picked up a handful of the cubes and plopped them into the swirling purple liquid, brushing the powder into his hand and sprinkling it on top in a counter-clockwise circle.

Several of the cauldrons began to put up puffs of smoke in varying shades of blue and Harry sighed with relief when his own began to do the same. If he was screwing up, at least he was screwing up just as badly as the rest of them.

However, something not-so-blue - in fact, it was quite visibly orange - caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but wince at the thought; Snape had let Axel and Roxas - two total newbies to the potions class - work together on a sixth-year work?

Well, no one ever claimed the cranky bastard was smart.

"Mr. Clearwater! What is that coming out of your cauldron!" Snape demanded, looming over the two Nobodies as they read and re-read the recipe in a half-panic.

"Uummm… it looks like smoke, Sir, but I've been wrong before." The blonde leaned over the bubbling concoction with a puzzled look on his face, waving away the orange billows out of his face.

"OH!" Axel added, shoving Roxas out the way and looking at the ingredients spread out all over the table. "I see what we did wrong! I forgot to add the root of asphodel! My bad!" He let out a barking laugh and swiped all of the grated root into the palm of his hand.

Snape looked scandalized as Axel did so. "Mr. Axion, this potion made without the root of asphodel is a highly corrosive acidic solution used to erode away magical build-up. You have created a very dangerous potion right here in the middle of class!"

Harry blinked as he watched a dark snarl mar the potion's professor's face at the sight of the ruined potion. Had Snape really let them work with something so dangerous? Ron, too, stared at the professor and leaned closer to Harry.

"Uh oh, poor Axel! Snape looks maaaaaaaad."

Indeed, he did, pulling out his wand to banish the potion and clean out the cauldron. Roxas and Axel would not be getting credit for the day's work.

The red-head put his hands up innocently, staring at the stick pointed at him. "Hey, hey, accident's happen, man! Here, I'll fix this right up." He threw back his hair and, ignoring the look of panic that spread throughout the entire room, dumped the handful right in the simmering pot.

Almost instantaneously, a huge explosion shook the classroom and a slimy, bubbling liquid exploded from the cauldron. Large bursts rained down from the ceiling and several of the girls started shrieking, covering their heads with their arms or whatever they could get their hands on.

A geyser formed above the pot and a wide radius of droplets rained down on the chaotic classroom, the acid burning through bookshelves, tables, and robes. Several people cried out as their skin was burned by the fouled potion.

Roxas let out a panicked shout as he was doused with the goop, orange slime dripping off of his body and puddling at his feet. Large, painful, green splotches burst out over his skin and Snape grabbed him, his own hand getting some of the potion on it and turning the sickly color.

However, another burst shook the classroom as another explosion built up, and the cauldron was knocked on the floor. A huge burst of the acid jetted out of the pot and straight for Harry and Ron's table. Snape let out a startled sound and pointed his wand straight at the table, managing to knock it over and block the spray right before it squirted the two boys.

"Stop screaming!" the professor snapped, shutting most of the girls up and stunning the cauldron so that it would not continue on.

Harry leaned against the table that had protected them from the orange wave, hand clutching his robes and heart pounding in his chest. That had felt like it was way too close. He could feel a puddle of something under him and thought with a hint of paralyzing shock, 'did I wet myself!'

But Ron next to him, also felt it. "Oh bloody hell!" Ron bitched. "Look at this!" He picked up their own black cauldron which was - Harry felt his stomach drop - empty of the potion that they had been making. "Not only did he knock us off of our own table, he ruined our potion, too! And you know that he's not going to let us fix it!"

His friend continued to complain and moan as he flipped the table back on all four legs, watching as Snape gave immediate medical attention to those who had been burned. Roxas was shaking and shuddering in pain, the acid eating away at the remnants of Peeve's Magical Paint that had left his hair black until the natural blonde color began to show through.

Snape grabbed him by the arm and pointed the wand at him, drying up the patches of potion still on his skin before he began to poke and prod at each individual green rash splotch, healing them right up in a manner that mimed Madame Pomfery without the mothering.

Harry couldn't do anything to help Ron clean up the mess as he watched Snape in action, hands moving with surprising dexterity as he worked on the wounds of each student in turn, every few rounds casting the spell on his own hand, which was a mix of red and pale. It was rather interesting, Harry thought, blushing and trying to right the chairs, to see an ex-Death Eater healing people instead of killing them. Because Harry still wasn't sure whether Snape was really a good guy or a bad guy, even after he had at least tried to help Sirius by fire-calling the Headquarters the year before.

Once everything had cleared back up, however - and a couple of bandages had been slapped on the worst burn-marks - the professor made his way back up to the front of the room and stated, as his usual bastard self, "who still has a potion to turn in today?"

Very few people raised their hands: Draco and Blaise, Hermione and Neville, Pansy and Millicent.

"Are you telling me," Snape inquired coolly, "that the rest of this class will be receiving no credit for the work today? What an interesting way to start off the school year."

Harry's features melted into a heated glare. He had expected that Snape would find some reason not to give him and Ron any credit - the old bat hated him, after all - but to do the same thing to the entire class for something that they couldn't help! How had those three cauldrons not been destroyed like the rest of them!

"Sir!" Axel announced, shoving his gloved hand into the air and not waiting to be called upon as he doted over Roxas, "That seriously isn't fair. I mean, yeah, whatever, Roxas and I fucked up. Should'a known better and blah-blah-blah. But that isn't a reason to take it out on everyone else! Give blame where blame's due."

"That is exactly what I was doing, Mr. Axion, until you decided to question my teaching techniques. You're right; you should have known better. And so should your classmates. If they wanted the credit for today, they should have never let the two of you work together. I think that a zero for today will alert them to their stupidity.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor, Mr. Axion, for questioning a teacher and using inappropriate language in the classroom. New students are not excused from the rules, Mr. Axion."

Harry glared at Snape, who was glaring at Axel, who was glaring at his clasped hands on the table. "Yes, Sir."

Snape nodded, cracking his spidery fingers against the desk. "Well, at least one Gryffindor knows how to talk to a teacher. And now, we're going to discuss _why_ the acidic potion exploded when Mr. Axion added the root of asphodel."

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**No, not really Snape/Harry yet, but building up to it. Soon enough… yeah.**

**Okay, Ai no Miko-san! You got your second request - a love-rival for Naminè's hand. In fact, you got it two and a half times! Cause Ron only counts as a half… hehehe.**

**Oh, and I'm sorry about how long it took. I've been in-and-out of the Dr.'s office all week getting my body okayed to go to school next year. I'll try to be quicker next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Yada yada yada.

**Wow. I never planned on this update taking so long. But I've been so busy lately - parties with my friends, threads on the DMP Forum, reading…. And now we're on vacation to Colorado (I'm on the laptop). I'm so sorry about the wait, and I promise that I'll work as hard as I can to write new chapters while we're gone so I can post a lot sooner when I finally get home.**

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"Well that was fun," Axel commented, running a hand through his wild spikes. "Oh well. Kinda disappointed that you are a blonde again, but at least you still have your skin, eh? It could have been a good hand worse. Seriously, I didn't mean to make that pot go boom. But you mix a pyrokinetic with volatile chemicals and - well, you know how it is!"

Roxas rolled his eyes, kissing his dumb-ass boyfriend on the cheek. "Yes, I know. I feel like smacking myself for taking the chance, really. But you'll be making it up to me for the next forty-eight hours, won't you, _slave_?"

Rolling his eyes at the stupid deal he had made to get the blonde to forgive him, he nodded and hunched his shoulders forward. "Yesh, mashter, right away, mashter, Igor do ash mashter commands." He smirked at the innuendo that could be derived from the agreement, but he didn't mind. In fact, he hoped that Roxas would take him up on it!

"You're a letch," the blond sighed, taking Axel's hand and shifting so that their fingers intertwined. Axel grinned and gave him a fake sultry look.

"That's what everyone was always saying. 'Axel, you're a letch.' 'Axel, you're such a child molester.' 'Axel, you _do_ realize that he's sixteen, _don't_ you?' That one came from Xaldin. Not like he had any room to talk!"

"Don't be a moron," Roxas snipped out, running a hand through his hair. "Look, go… do your charms thing while Nammy and I learn to turn crap into other crap."

"Oh what fun!"

Axel pecked a quick kiss on Roxas's forehead before winking and merrily skipping off to his next class, arms swinging back and forth and drawing way too much attention to himself. A couple of people stared after him in shock while a few others looked at Roxas, shaking their heads.

"What!" Roxas demanded, "It's not like he actually listens to _me_." He scoffed and headed up to where Harry had sworn the Transfiguration room was - since Draco and Blaise had barely paused a second to wait on him - and poked his head into the room, seeing two blondes conversing with a black-haired boy.

Naminè laughed at something that Draco was saying, covering her mouth to mute the sound as Blaise cut in, practically shoving Draco on his ass as he tried to impress her more. The girl continued to smile but the flirtiness was dimmed as she heard his attempt to show off.

Roxas grinned and walked over, putting a hand on each of the other Slytherins' shoulders.

"OH ho ho!" he started in with a smirk on his face, leaning over the two males, "so _this_ is why you ditched me after class, is it? Hoping to get your hands on my sister while I'm not around, eh? Thought you could score without 'big brother' around, eh!"

"Roxas, don't be a dumb-ass," Draco responded, half-heartedly.

"Yeah, really!" Naminè giggled as she hugged Roxas around the neck, quickly. "They've been nothing but perfect gentlemen since they first sat down. Really, not everyone in the world is out to corrupt me, you know."

Roxas chuckled and picked her up, sitting her on the table in front of him. "Hey, hey, hey. You've given me enough reason to worry. Four words, Nammy; Mar-lux-i-a." He counted out the syllables on his fingers as he spoke.

"For the millionth time, Roxas; he was gay! Nothing against, but he would _never_ in a million years have actually touched me, even if he was a child-molester! If you ask me," she added in a faked whisper, "I think that he was interested in Zexion, not that he could get anywhere with it. If anything, he would come into the room, trash things in a pissy rage, then storm off to the greenhouse to have some quiet time with his flowers."

Draco and Blaise looked floored. "Um… sounds like you had some very _interesting _friends before you came here, didn't you guys? Now, there were thirteen of you, or so you said last night? There was the sociopath, the surfer wannabe, the anglophile-."

"Who would kill us if he found out about us coming here in a total jealous rage," Roxas added, laughing at the thought of what Xaldin really _would_ do if he found out about this one. Probably kill something. Or screw a large, fuzzy animal. Like always.

**- - The author would like to take this moment to add that she loves Xaldin… - - **

"Right. Anyway, there was the Frankenstein wannabe, the 'Silent Hero', the emo-brat, the were-elf, Axel, the bi-polar musician, the gambling addict, Mister Flower Power, the PMS-ing sadist, and you."

Blaise would have sweat dropped had they been in an anime. "Wow. And all of you people lived together in a big white castle in the middle of _absolutely **nowhere**_, trying not to kill each other?"

"Basically," Naminè replied, laughing and swinging her sandaled feet. "Luckily for me, I didn't have to live there. They moved me right to Castle Oblivion. Then, from there, to The Old Mansion in Twilight Town."

Roxas couldn't help but frown as he remembered what had happened to Naminè… because of him.

She put her hand on his arm, comfortingly, and smiled. "Don't worry about it, Roxas; I've told you a million times that DiZ never liked me that much."

"Who?" Blaise inquired, putting both of his hands down and leaning forward like he was interested in the conversation.

"…You didn't tell him, too, Roxas?"

"Uh… no?"

"Tell me what!" Blaise demanded firmly, looking from Naminè to Roxas to Draco and back. All three looked like they were trying not to say anything and, luckily, a cat walked into the room right at that moment.

Draco sat down in the chair directly in front of Roxas and Naminè slipped in next to him, Blaise next to Roxas. Even though the Nobodies had been assured that it was not a partner class, Roxas had very much learned his lesson.

The cat transformed into the professor and McGonagall looked over the class. "Welcome Sixth Years. Last year, as I'm sure you remember, you took your O.W.L.S. This year, we are going to start on the more basic spells that will be covered in your N.E.W.T.S. Mr. Clearwater, Miss Lalane, we're going to start you off with more simple work until you get proficient in this subject. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini will help you."

She then assigned the rest of the class to attempt to change a goblet into a woven basket. Roxas and Naminè were attempting the first spell - a toothpick to a needle.

"You need to flick your wrist more," Blaise commented as Roxas failed a second time to even sharpen the ends.

Roxas turned to him only to find that Blaise wasn't even looking at him. He was looking at Naminè and Draco. The Nobody glared at him. "You know, it might be easier to help me if you're actually looking at me."

"… Shut up."

"You know that you aren't going to get anywhere, right?" he asked, frostily, as he snapped his wrist, turning the wooden stick into a grey color. "Naminè isn't interested. If she _is_ into anyone, it'll be Draco. Not you."

Blaise glared at him darkly, finally turning away from the two. "I'll take my chances and wait to hear it from her myself if it's all the same to you."

Roxas, though he returned the dirty look ten-fold, was mildly impressed. He promised himself then and there that he would _destroy_ Blaise Zabini if he kept his Nammy from being happy, but the boy's determination and bravery were admirable if not foolish. He just hoped that he didn't have to beat the tar out of Blaise; the black-haired boy was a decent-enough friend, according to Draco.

"Tell you what," Roxas reasoned, "I don't mind if you want to waste your time trying to come in between them. In fact, I would much rather Draco have to work for Naminè than to just pluck her. But you play this game by _my_ rules. If you hurt my sister, you'll be lucky if they ever _find_ you."

Blaise tried not to look off-put by the totally characteristic threat. "I don't like playing by other people's terms."

"You'll learn to," Roxas replied, knowingly, as he watched Draco take Naminè's hand and move it through the motions of the spell. "Now are you going to teach me or what, _Baisy_?"

The other boy sighed dramatically. "Fine! Try it again and let me watch. You've got to be doing _something_ wrong if you can't even do a spell that easy."

"Well excuse me if I've never done this before! You're supposed to be helping me, not making smart-mouthed comments! All you've said so far is 'flick your wrist'. Yeah. That's doing me a lot of good!"

Blaise scoffed and put down the pillow that he was trying to transfigure into a blank book. "Fine. I'm watching. Go ahead, Blondie; impress me."

"No one has showed me _how_!" Roxas shouted, drawing the attention of the entire classroom, especially Professor McGonagall, who looked at them disapprovingly.

"…Sorry!"

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"Welcome, my dears!" Roxas almost jumped out of his seat as a woman in a beaded shawl walked through the door in the back of the classroom, copious amounts of smoke billowing from a spell cast on the doorway. "I knew, simply knew, that all of you would be the ones in this class; the Eye tells me exactly who has the mental capabilities to Understand and to See!"

Naminè glanced over at him from across the doily-decorated table that simply had a book and three dice set upon it. He returned the look. Yeah. The others had warned them about her.

"A vision from The Beyond told me that, instead of the plans I had made to start you off on Alomancy, you needed - absolutely _demanded_ - that the beginning of the year be dedicated to Astragalomancy! And who am I, though a powerful Seer, to deny the urgings of The Great Beyond!"

The blonde girl clasped her hands in front of her mouth and tried not to giggle. Maybe there was a good reason that she was the only Ravenclaw sitting in the classroom - every one else had opted for Arithmancy or something equally as studious.

"From each table, one person will roll the dice! Remember, dears, Focus! You cannot access the great beyond without powerful Focus!" Roxas couldn't help but wonder how many words this chick could capitalize! "When that partner is done, the other will interpret what they rolled from the book! I will come around and See if your interpretation is correct!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Okay then. Go on, Nammy. Come on; snake eyes!" He bent over the table, remembering vaguely that it was something that Luxord had done in another one of his bizarre dreams, and would have wagged his tail had he one.

"Alright, already, down boy!" Naminè took the dice and shook them in her hands, blowing on them with a screwed-up look of concentration.

Finally, she cast the dice.

"Six, six, two…," Roxas muttered, grabbing the stupid book and flipping it open to the sixes. Then to the sub-category sixes. Then the sub-section two.

"Okay," he said, running his finger over the page. "Apparently, you're going to get what you want - whatever that is - with minor trials. Wow… that's stupid. Re-roll and predict the coming of the apocalypse or something; class is really boring today."

Naminè couldn't help but burst into laughter and draw the attention of every other person in that room. Trelawney made a slight sound and flittered over, eye-lashes batting. "My dear!" she gasped, taking Naminè's hands, "did you roll this!"

"Uh. Yes?"

"OH!" the woman shrieked as if though in pain. "Oh! You poor, poor thing!" She held one hand over the dice before pulling it back like it burned her. "I'm so sorry child!"

"…Why?" Naminè asked, grabbing the book from Roxas. "What didn't you tell me!"

Roxas looked just as flabbergasted. "Look at the chart! Six, six, two! Good things come after a difficulty! I read word for word on the little thingy down at the bottom! See!"

Naminè looked and then glanced at Trelawney. "Um, ma'am? A little bit of hardship isn't such a big deal. It's nothing to get upset over, is it?"

The teacher looked shocked at the blonde girl's nonchalance. "Oh! Miss Lalane, you seem to have misRead the dice! Look! The dice are Telling me of fore coming Darkness! Ooh!" Roxas was quickly getting sick of that gasping exclamation. "Don't you See it, dear!"

"Um… well, I'm from a family of Seers." Naminè copied the motion and could actually feel the dice as if though she were placing her hand on them. They were warm, but not hot. "I don't feel any darkness, Professor."

Trelawney looked at her with disapproval. "My dear, can't you See it? Can't you Feel it?"

"No?"

Roxas tried not to laugh as a couple of people, the 'less-believers' who were probably in the class so they could fake their way to a half-way decent grade. Trelawney, however, gasped and clutched her chest.

"My dear, the dice are Screaming! There is a Darkness in your future! Oh! I See it!"

"Ma'am?" Naminè asked, flipping through the book and checking the chart every few pages. "… no combination of those numbers, no matter how I rolled them, foretell of darkness. Of course, I'm not a teacher, but… see?"

She showed Professor Trelawney the book.

The woman just looked scandalized. "My dear, can you not Feel it? Do you have to have the book; you cannot Read the Darkness emitting from the dice?"

A couple of students started snickering and laughing at the confused look on Naminè's face. 'Wow,' Roxas thought, 'no wonder Snape looked at me like I was an idiot for wanting to take this class.' "Wait!" he shouted, interrupting the conversation.

He all-of-a-sudden clapped his hand to his forehead, gasping as he threw the other out over the dice. "Naminè, she's right! Don't you See it!" He grabbed his sister by the arms and shook her gently, winking at her.

"Uhhh…no?"

"Eh." He shrugged. "Your loss."

The entire class would have sweat-dropped had they been in an anime. The professor, however, did not seem to get the joke and looked at Roxas like he'd just kicked a puppy or committed some similar crime.

"Mr. Clearwater, you Saw the Darkness, didn't you! Oh, how can you not Reveal something so Evil to your friend! How can you not warn her?"

"Why don't you, then, Ma'am?" When he received no response, Roxas realized that he had guessed right; Trelawney hadn't seen a thing and was just hoping to get an idea from whatever he 'Saw'.

"She's a fraud," he told Naminè when the Professor walked away, "just like Draco and Blaise said."

"Roxas," she replied with a smile, tapping her left temple, "I could have told you that."

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Axel tried not to roll his eyes as he saw people pointing and whispering as he walked over to the wooden fence, hopping up and sitting on it, flipping his shock-red locks.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione tried not to make any sudden movements, as the red-head had been bouncing around and hanging off of their arms ever since the end of potions class.

"Hey, ah, rumor has it that people end up getting hurt in this class. Didn't something take a chunk out of Draco's arm one time? And some rather terrifying tales of a boom-butted skewer?"

"Blast-Ended Skrewts," Harry corrected without thinking about it.

"What_ever_ they were." Axel chuckled and laid down on the fence underneath him, crossing his arms behind his head and staring up into the sky. 'Pretty blue… like Roxas's eyes.' Yes… two classes, and he already missed his little blonde lover. Shame.

"Um…," Hermione started, almost poking him but having no actual contact. "Excuse me; you aren't supposed to sit, or, well, _lay_ on the gate, I don't think. There might be something," she shuddered, "in the pen."

Axel scoffed and half-rolled off of his resting place, landing crouched on his feet. "Whatever. So, who is the teacher for this class again? Some little _princess_ in our last class told me. You know," he added accusingly, "the one that you guys _let_ latch herself onto my arm."

"Her name was Hanna," Ron cut in.

"Still not caring." He sighed, leaning against the gate and wishing, for the millionth time that day, that he had a cigarette. "So, what, do we just stand out here and scream 'holy shit; it's a squirrel!' or is there actually a teacher on his or her way here?"

Harry glared at the red-head who backed away and put his hands up in the air as if though someone had a gun drawn on him. "Hagrid is just a little late. That's all."

"Dude… chill. I didn't know that you liked the teach that much, kay? Jeez, make one little comment around here and I get my ass kicked. At least I knew the rules back in the castle," he bitched, throwing his gloved hands up over his head and stretching them towards the sun. "God, I'm bored."

However, he was quickly drawn away from his boredom as the ground beneath his boots, causing him to almost react dramatically and throw himself onto Harry's torso. He managed to simply step behind the trio, figuring that, if it were a monster, it would eat the scrawny, easier to chew ones first anyway.

But the approaching figure proved all of the red-head's fears unfounded as a smiling man - a giant, Axel amended in his head - walked up to them, a thick chain clutched in his tight fist.

"'Ello, class! Gather 'round, now, gather 'round! Come see what I've got 'ere!" Axel hung back from the giant man, tugging on the chain roughly as it lead back around the hut which the class was to be held around.

"Well, come on, now! Dun' nobody wanna see wha' 've got wit' me taday?" No one, not even the fearless Axel, trusted those words. That was like running up in excitement when someone screams 'I have an idea!' Easy way to get yourself killed!

The man - giant - smiled as he looked over the class until he realized that _no one_ was interested in 'seeing what he had with him today'. His smile fell and he leaned down a bit. "Anyone? Come on, someone has to be curious. 'Ow about you, 'Arry?"

Gulping, the raven-haired Gryffindor reluctantly stepped forward and Hagrid grinned again, jerking on the chain. A loud, muffled bellow came from whatever he intended to show them. Axel stepped back. 'Well, it was nice knowing ya, Harry!'

Another firm jerk brought the creature around the side of the hut and the entire class gasped, none louder than the red-head.

"HOLY SHIT! Where did you get your hands on a fucking Stealth Sneak!" he demanded, staring up at the angry Heartless who had a rope tied around his neck and a bar shackled between his hands to keep him from summoning his lightning.

"'Dey'll be no need for 'at language, Mr. Axion. Five points from Gryffindor." However, he continued smiling as he pat the monster's neck.

Axel was, to say the least, not amused. He flicked both of the rings, AKA his weapons, down to be clutched in his fingertips, rubbing them to heat them up. The Stealth Sneak let out another bellow, lunging for him with his spring-loaded legs. It was only stopped by the jerk of the harness around its neck.

"Well, 'e was righ', though! Dis is called a 'Stealth Sneak'. All it is is jus' a big ole lizard! Bu' 'is hands have the power to 'lectrocute ya jus' like an eel. So watch 'em! Now come up in groups o' four 'n' 'll tell ya all 'bout 'em!"

Appearing to be very reluctant, Harry, Ron , and Hermione stepped up, Axel following simply because he wanted to get a closer look at the unfathomably rare Heartless that had somehow made its way to the Nobody-Heartless War-free world.

The lizard-like monster shrieked at him, struggling against the firm hold on his make-shift leash. Hermione screamed and hid behind Ron, shoving the boy closer to the Stealth Sneak as if though to sacrifice him.

"Bah," Axel snarled at the Heartless, "go back to the Deep Jungle where you belong, Lizard Boy!" He heated up the metal of his weapon rings and slapped his hand against the rump of the Stealth Sneak, causing an even louder cry to emit from the beast. When Axel pulled his hand away, a thick burn mark from the rings was left behind on the scaly green skin.

"Well," Hagrid said, loudly, looking a bit shocked at the fact that Axel already didn't like the monster that he brought to class, even _before_ it had had a chance to hurt him. "We'l, anyway, a Steal' Sneak is like a big ole chameleon, an' it can just 'bout disappear anywhere it 'appens to be, so ya gotta keep a firm 'old on 'im!"

As the over-sized man continued to gush over the Heartless, Axel ignored him easily, eyes scanning left and right, ever nerve in his body on fire as he watched and listened for anything that could happen. If there were Heartless showing up in Hogwarts, Axel knew that he had to let Roxas and Naminè know. Soon.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**This chapter changes focus characters several times. From Roxas to Axel to Roxas to Naminè to Draco… blah, blah, blah. I try to make the transitions as easily as possible, so hopefully it won't be too confusing for you. I mean, you have to admit, a lot is going on right now.**

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"Are you one-hundred percent certain?" Roxas asked, leaning up against the column of stone, arms crossing over his chest. After classes, Axel had showed up outside of the room's door and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him off insistently, swearing that he had something really important to tell him. Roxas had been dragged all over the Hogwarts campus until they had finally found a secluded place outside, only for his red-headed boyfriend to inform him that he had seen a Heartless - a Stealth Sneak! - on school grounds. "Even Dumbledore said that the Heartless never invaded this world. So what would one be doing here now?"

"I don't know!" Axel answered, throwing his hands up in the air. "How the Hell _should_ I know! It's not like I want it here! But I'm sure, Roxas; it was a Heartless! The big dude that brought him to class said it was a Stealth Sneak. Do you think that I would make something like this up?"

The blonde shrugged, not sure what to think. "I do trust you, Axel, but it's just a little weird."

"You're telling me! If there's a Heartless around here, even one as weak as a Stealth Sneak, could be a huge threat to us. I mean, that's just _one_ Heartless. What if there are more that we don't know about?"

"Maybe," Roxas mused, skeptically, "Dumbledore can't tell the difference between a natural and a forced one. The ones with the symbol, the fake Heartless that Xemnas - well, Xehanort at the time - and the other five created…."

Axel nodded passionately before he paused and caught the look of incredulity on his boyfriend's face. "You don't believe me!" he accused, wagging a finger at Roxas. "How can you not believe me! I'm your boyfriend; do you think I would lie to you? I saw a Heartless! And you aren't even taking me seriously!"

"Calm down," Roxas placated, putting both of his hands up in a relenting gesture. "I am taking you seriously, but the fact remains that you do have a tendency to overreact to things. With you, Axel, it might have just been an itty bitty lizard and you would say it was an Illuminator."

Anger built up behind Axel's eyes. "You don't trust me! I know I'm a little bit out there - a loud mouth, a drama queen, and anything else people want to call me - but I know how and when to be serious! This thing could kill us, and you aren't even listening to me!"

"Fine. Show me the Heartless and I won't have any choice but to believe you. If you're studying it in Care of Magical Creatures, it should still be down by your class-yard, right? Let's go together and take a look; see if it's really worth worrying Naminè about."

Lips pursing in frustration, Axel agreed and lead the way down to Hagrid's sparse hut on the grounds. As they walked, Roxas tried to slip his hand into his boyfriend's, but Axel shook it off, causing a muffled whimper to come from the blonde behind him. He ignored it. Why was he supposed to just relent and be sweet to a boyfriend that didn't trust him enough to take his word for things? Roxas should have trusted that he would **never** lie to him!

"Alright!" Axel said as they neared the giant's house, "last time I saw the Stealth Sneak, it was tethered up on the backside of the cabin, here. So, if we go around to the other side, we'll definitely see the thing and you'll _have_ to admit that I was telling you the truth."

"Axel…." Roxas felt bad that he had managed to anger the other Nobody male, but couldn't stop himself from being a natural skeptic. He had learned the hard way to find out things for himself and not blindly believe what anyone told him, not even Axel. The red-head had lied to him before, even if it was for a 'good' cause.

The two boys walked along the side of the house, not hearing any noise from inside nor seeing the large man when they looked inside the window, so Roxas poked his head around the corner of the house to see the Heartless.

"See!" Axel demanded, proudly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I told you that there was a Stealth Sneak!" He was not a truly mean person by nature, but he was planning on making Roxas beg for him to forget the fact that he hadn't trusted him.

"Um… Axel, there's nothing back here."

"What! That's impossible!" The red-head almost shoved his boyfriend down as he moved to check for himself. "NO! Roxas, I swear, there was a Stealth Sneak back behind here earlier! I saw it! It tried to attack me! How can this be happening!"

Roxas crossed his arms over his chest, giving the red-head an unreadable look. "Very funny, Axel. For a minute there, I actually did think that there was a Heartless in this world. Cute joke."

"Dammit!" Axel slammed his open palm against the side of the house, fire erupting from the ground around his feet. "I'm telling you the truth! The giant must have taken it somewhere! It could have even gotten loose! We have to find it!"

The blonde shook his head. "Come on, Axel, let's just go find Naminè. I'm sure she's worried about us by now. I was supposed to meet up with her, Draco, and Blaise after class so they would help us with the homework that McGonagall gave us after Transfiguration. You wanna come with me?"

"No I don't want to go with you! I want to find out where that Heartless went! There's a Stealth Sneak around here - a Heartless that can turn invisible and outrun any Nobody that's ever been created - and you don't even care!" Axel honestly thought he was going to cry. Why was this happening to him! He had seen a Heartless! He had burned the monster with his chakrams!

Sighing, Roxas tried to reason with the other who had apparently bought far too much into his own panicked hype. "We should get back to the castle before Naminè starts to worry. Maybe we'll see it on our way to the library."

Fire bursting up all around them, Axel whipped off the rings and turned them back into flaming, full-sized weapons. "You aren't even trying to believe me!" Furious, he set the two circlets on fire and threw one of them at the blonde, nearly hitting him in the head.

Roxas fell back a step and unclipped Oblivion from his belt, just managing to knock the Firetooth attack away from him. Axel wasn't fooling around anymore! He could really hurt him!

"Well, fine! I'll prove you wrong! If I have to, I'll find the Stealth Sneak all on my own, and then you'll see!" In a raging huff of explosive heat, Axel stormed off, leaving a trail of charred grass and ashes behind him as he walked.

Sighing, Roxas reclipped the miniaturized Keyblade back to his belt, trying to understand what Axel was so worked up about! Obviously, there wasn't a Heartless and Axel had just been overreacting, if not simply imagining things. He didn't even bring in the factor that the teacher had reaffirmed Axel's worries. He simply accepted the fact that he had been to look and there was no monster.

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Naminè smiled a bit exasperatedly as the two Slytherin males both tried to help her with the spell that would transform a stick into a string. Of course she appreciated their help. She just wished that they weren't both trying to give her advice that countered what the other happened to say!

"So it's a counter-clockwise circle and a flick?" she asked Draco, wrinkling her nose a bit with the frustration.

"No, no, no," Blaise cut in, moving between her and the blonde-haired boy she liked so much. "It's a counter-clockwise arc, a right-ward line, then a flick. Trust me."

Naminè, had it been graceful enough for her, would have sweat-dropped.

Luckily, the two boys were distracted from their competition to be the one to help her as Roxas walked up to them, a half-exasperated half-depressed look on his face. He smiled at her weakly before sitting down and pulling a wooden stick from the inside of his billowy black robes. "Okay, this time I'm not going to let this stupid twig get the best of me."

"Didn't you bring Axel with you? Draco said that he practically dragged you away after classes started."

"Yeah…." He sighed deeply. "Axel decided to go exploring on his own for a while. I think I made him really mad at me this time. Like, worse-than-not-remembering made him mad." He answered the subtle inquisitive look she gave him. "He told me this wild made-up story just to freak me out and must have been pissed that I was such a spoil-sport."

"That isn't like him," Naminè said, lightly. "Usually, you can do no wrong as far as he's concerned."

Roxas shrugged, sadly. "He was just being a dork. Kept," he chuckled, "claiming that a teacher brought a Heartless into class. A Stealth Sneak, no less - um, big clappy lizard thing," he added for his friends' benefits. "It was so stupid. It's not like I wouldn't figure out that he was lying to me when I saw that there was no Heartless."

Naminè frowned a bit. "I know Axel is a bit of a prankster, but I can't imagine why he would say there was a Heartless when there wasn't one. If you _had_ believed him, you would have gotten even more mad when you found out that he was just kidding you."

Not exactly sure what was going on between the three 'nobodies' - for Draco and Blaise were still a little fuzzy on nobodies V.S. Nobodies - the two boys tried to turn the conversation onto a topic that they were familiar with.

"Hey, you guys, have you heard that there's a Hogsmede weekend coming up?" Draco inquired, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the tabletop.

They both shook their heads. "What is it?" Naminè asked, leaning forward towards the Malfoy boy.

"It's a city not far from here," Blaise cut in, trying to grab her attention. "The town is really neat. It has a post office, a sweets shop, two bars - one of which students are really allowed to go into - and a real haunted building."

"Haunted building?" Naminè asked, exchanging a look with Roxas. "Are you talking about the 'Shrieking Shack'? Harry, Ron, and Hermione told us about it." 'And Professor Remus told us what was really in there,' but she did not say this aloud, having promised to keep it a secret.

"Yeah!" Draco slammed his hands down on the table. "I went out to the gate around the Shack, you know, just to take a look around, and something attacked me! Crabbe and Goyle both got knocked down and a ghost started throwing snowballs at us!"

The two Nobodies couldn't help but burst into laughter, also having been told _that_ story.

"What's so funny?" Draco grumbled angrily.

"Nothing, Draco," Naminè answered, smiling at him, smitten.

Roxas and Blaise exchanged looks, Roxas gesturing with his hand at the two discreetly as if though to say 'oh, and you're just going to _let_ that happen? I thought you were going to try and get her'.

"Mah, Naminè. I just thought of something. Since you said that you wanted to review all of the stuff that you learned today to make sure that you got it all right, why don't we move to the Room of Requirement."

Draco made a 'tsk' sound in between his teeth. "Why bother? We have all of the books we need right here in the library."

"Yeah," Blaise countered, "but we're not allowed to actually practice the spells in here without the old bat trying to hex us all. Besides, the Room will give us everything else that we need. Come on, Roxas; you think it's a good idea, right?"

Roxas put his hands up to imply that Blaise should _not_ try to drag him into the war over the girl he considered to be as close to him as a sister. "I don't really care."

Blaise glared at him, pressing his lips together into a line. "How else are you going to practice charms and divination and stuff like that. I don't think either one of you carries crystal balls and feathers around in your pockets." He actually dared to smirk out his victory. Just for the sake of proving him wrong, Roxas longed to pull one of the two out of mid-air.

"Okay," he agreed. "You win. Lead on, oh Slytherin brethren."

Naminè giggled at him.

The boy lead them up stairs and all around, down hallways and past corridors, Draco grumbling the whole time. 'You just wish you'd thought of it,' Roxas jibed in his head, managing to keep his mouth shut so that the other of two fellow Nobodies wouldn't get mad at him like Axel was.

After a long time, Blaise stopped in front of a blank wall and smiled. "Here it is!"

…

"Blaise… this is a blank wall. There is nothing on it. No picture door. No statue to tell a password to. It's a blank wall."

"You think I don't know that!" he snapped at Roxas. "It isn't _really_ just a wall, Mr. I-Know-Everything. You can only get into the Room of Requirement when you need something; hence the name. We need a classroom with all of what it will take to go over the classes today."

Suddenly, an archway appeared right in front of their eyes and Blaise walked up to it, turning to face them. "Told you so."

"Of course you did," Naminè agreed, patting him on the arm.

Just as the group was about to head inside, two hulking gorillas walked down the hallway, purposely toward them. "Draco," one of them grunted out, "we've been looking for you."

"Well, you can't have been looking too hard!" the platinum-haired boy snipped, glaring at them. "I've been in the library for the past hour." He turned to the newcomers. "You remember Crabbe and Goyle." They both nodded.

"Professor Snape was looking for you, Draco. Said that he wanted to talk to you about something."

"Great," Malfoy answered, tossing his hair, which he had grown out past his ears, with a flick of his wrist. "I suppose I should go see what he wants." He nodded a farewell to Roxas and Naminè and gave Blaise a 'you mess with my girl and I'll kill you ' look before he walked passed the two boulders, being followed down the hallway.

"What were you doing hanging around with a Ravenclaw girl?" Crabbe asked, bluntly, having no sense of tact or delicate conversation starters.

"Not that it's any of your business," Draco answered, "but she happens to be a friend of mine."

"Didn't she say that she was a mud blood on the train?" Goyle inquired.

"She doesn't know. Apparently, she was not raised by her biological family." Privately, he wondered if Nobodies really had biological families, but let the thought go just as easily, head still spinning from the wild tale that the three had spun for him when they met in Diagon Alley.

Goyle grunted. "So she's an orphan like Harry Potty."

"Don't even think about comparing a smart, pretty girl like Naminè to Gryffindor's precious Golden Boy," Draco barked, startling the two boys following him. "It's not like she's some naïve Gryffindor or one of those weaklings from Hufflepuss. She's a smart, respectable Ravenclaw. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Okay, Draco."

"Whatever you say."

The platinum blond scoffed. 'Idiots.'

Abandoning his stalkers at the doorway to Snape's office, he went inside where the Potions Master was waiting for him, leaned over a large saucer that Draco knew contained Snape's Pensive. "'Remedial Potions' with Potty again?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow, having put two-and-two together when Lucius had spent hours ranting about the improved Occulomancy powers of a boy Draco had seen having private lessons with a master Legamins.

"Don't ask," Snape answered, looking like there was nothing in the world he would rather do less. "Sit down, Malfoy; I have something very important that I need to talk with you about."

Draco gracefully took the seat across from his head of house and rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward to fold his hands under his chin, looking interested. "What is it? A message from my father?"

"Nothing that pointless. If he wanted to contact you, he's perfectly capable of writing his letter just like the rest of us." Snape shoved the basin back into the cabinet and sat down across from his Godson. "What I'm about to tell you, Draco, could get us both killed, but I think that you need to know exactly what is happening right now."

The blonde's uncaring façade dropped as he realized that he was about to become privy to Death Eater business.

"Some how - don't ask me, I don't know - The Dark Lord found out about the existence of Nobodies and of the Heartless. Yes, I know that those three would have told you at least something about it," he added at the surprised look he received. "They don't seem to realize that, just because we aren't familiar with them doesn't mean that there aren't those who are interested.

"The Dark Lord has given your father the task of finding out more about the Nobodies, and, unfortunately, Mr. Axion bought almost every book there was about Nobodies in Diagon Alley the same day that I left them in your care. If Lucius finds out about _that_ little fact," Snape went on, wording carefully, "he's not so blind as to miss the fact that you probably know something about the Nobodies that you did not tell him."

"Not everything I learn is Father's concern!" Draco snapped, angrily.

Snape raised an eyebrow, looking at Draco coolly until the boy calmed down. "No it isn't. But this is my warning for you; if Lucius makes the connection between you and Clearwater, Axion, and Lalane, he'll want you to spy on them and report information about them back to him. Especially if he finds out exactly why Mr. Axion was so interested in finding out about the Nobodies. And I don't believe that your will alone is enough to protect them from a Legamins like The Dark Lord."

Draco cursed darkly, receiving another _look_ from his Godfather. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked, hoping that Snape had some sort of advice to give him if he had actually bothered to tell him enough to get him paranoid.

"I don't know." Draco's face fell. "My best advice would be to simply keep your father from making the connections." The blond let out a dark sound. "You've already messed up, I'm assuming?"

"I just defended Naminè from Crabbe and Goyle."

"Well, you might not want to do that."

"I like Naminè!" he snapped, a dark red blush blooming over his pale, elfin features.

His Godfather gave him an exasperated look. "Do you like her enough not to hand her over to The Dark Lord by telling him that you're so obviously head-over-heals for the chit?" Draco's eyes blazed. "I thought so. It won't be too long before Lucius finds out who bought the books that he was looking for. Especially if he gets his hands on some of the other books that talk about the Nobodies. Do you understand what I'm telling you to do?"

"You're telling me to treat Naminè and Roxas like the mud bloods they admitted to being so that Father won't wrap his head around any of what's going on with the three of them," he answered, "so that, even if he does want me to spy on him, I can profess to not be close enough to them to know anything important."

"Smart lad."

Now angry with Snape - having no one to take his frustration with his father out on except for the barer of bad news - he stood up from his seat without waiting to be dismissed and stormed out of the office, slamming the door shut behind him.

Snape reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Why did Draco have to make everything so damn difficult? He was tempted to chase the boy down and reiterate the importance of what he had just been told, but he realized that he had more immediate matters to deal with; Potter would be showing up, again on Dumbledore's orders, within the hour.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Etcetera etcetera.

**Yeah, I'm still on vacation with my family. And they're about to drive me absolutely up the wall! Luckily, I have this story to escape to, so things could always be worse, I guess. Only, I'm starting to get worried about some of my reviewers.**

**They haven't reviewed on this story since I changed my screen name back to the original. Please, please, please review! I hate loosing readers over something so trivial. It's still me!**

_**This is a very Harry Potter character filled chapter. To make up for the fact that I spend way too much time doting over my Roxie-chan.**_

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Harry almost jumped out of his seat as the portrait of the Fat Lady slammed open with a loud bang. He, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the chairs in front of the fire, the bushy-haired girl forcing them to get an 'early start on their homework so that they didn't fall behind that year' and the two boys reluctantly just letting her fly.

Axel stormed into the room, cursing and muttering, almost spitting venom from the look on his face, as he walked over to them and plopped himself down on Harry's lap, _again_!

"Um," the be-glassed boy started in, carefully. "why do you always sit on me? I'm not a chair, you know? There are seats over there that you could drag over and you wouldn't have to be in my lap."

"I like being in your lap," Axel responded, tilting his head back and rubbing the wild but - Harry blushed - soft spikes of hair along the column of his neck. "Besides, I'm in a really bad mood and I don't feel like doing manual labor. Got a problem with it?"

Harry just continued to look a bit off-color. He didn't have a problem with it, per se, since Axel had explained on the train there how he was a bit more cuddly than most people, liking to be touched and talked to all the time, but it was a bit attention grabbing, wasn't it!

"Oh, fine!" Axel huffed, looking put out. He slid down Harry's legs and onto the carpet, resting his back against the black-haired boy and wrapping his arms around his knees. His eyes moved from the people that he was talking to onto the fire blazing in the hearth. "'S pretty."

Unconsciously, as if though something unknown compelled him to, Harry ran his fingers through the spikes.

"Why are you in a 'really bad mood'?" Hermione asked him, also trying to pretend that nothing was happening between the two boys. "You disappeared after class to talk to that blond Slytherin friend of yours, didn't you?"

"His name," Axel responded automatically, "is Roxas. R-O-X-A-S. Got it memorized?" She nodded. "And yeah, I did. He and Nammy signed up for Divination instead of Care of Magical Creatures, so I wanted to show him the Stealth Sneak. I knew he'd be interested." He subtly left out the exact reason _why_.

"Was he not impressed?" Ron inquired, looking more and more uncomfortable as Axel turned his emerald-green gaze on him, studying him intently.

"You have a crush on my sister," Axel stated as if though it was obvious and he had no reason to ask. Ron turned a red to match his hair and tried to stutter out a denial, but Axel put his hand up. "I'm not pissed off about it, I'm just making sure to remember it. I don't care. Your girlfriend might, though." He pointed at Hermione.

Harry couldn't stifle a mild strain of laughter at the looks on both of their faces. He had not actually confronted them about their relationship, even after he had seen them kissing, but for Axel to just come out and say it so bluntly! And having only known them a few days? Apparently, for being such a… weirdo, Axel was very astute.

His two friends almost started arguing and fighting about Ron's blush at the idea of Naminè when something large and fluffy flew through the arched window cut out of the stone wall. "Hedwig!" Harry caught his beloved snowy owl and saw that she had a letter tied onto her ankle.

"Who is this from, girl?" he asked, even as he untied the ribbon holding the parchment to her.

Axel turned so that his forearms were resting on Harry's lap and looked up at his pet. "That's pretty cool. So you mean that owls deliver letters around here? I guess it's a lot more convenient that putting it in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean though," he mused.

Not responding to what he correctly interpreted as simply vocalized thoughts, Harry opened the letter and his eyes strayed to the bottom, seeing the swirl-like signature of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you and your friends have enjoyed your first day of sixth-year classes. I'm sure it is a relief to be free from the worries of impending O.W.L.S. How is Messer Axion adjusting to life in Gryffindor tower? You, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger are being nice to him, yes? I imagine it must be difficult for him._

_However, this is not only a pleasantry letter. After a long, harrowing discussion between myself, Professor Lupin, and Professor Snape, it has been decided that you should resume Occulomancy lessons._

_Before you fly off of the handle, Harry, let me reiterate how important these lessons are. Last year, a string of terrible events set into place - _Harry almost burst into tears and managed to stifle them behind his hand as he thought of Sirius, his beloved Godfather, falling past the veil _- that, had Professor Snape not handled your curiosity so poorly, might not have occurred._

_At the same time, not all of the blame falls upon him. We - yes, both of us, Harry - are just as much to blame as Severus. The conclusion of the discussion held revolving around the resuming of lessons ended in a unanimous decision to have Professor Snape teach you, once again, three nights a week._

_Tonight will be your first lesson, at 17:00. Professor Snape is expecting you then._

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts._

"Why me?" Harry moaned out, remembering exactly what had happened during the lessons they had tried before. "Everyone knows that old bat hates me!"

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron asked, leaning closer to try and take the roll of parchment.

"Professor Dumbledore wants me to have _extra lessons_ with Snape again," he complained, knowing that his friends would pick up on the subtle hint.

Ron looked scandalized, but Hermione nodded, knowingly. "It's to be expected," she stated, ignoring the looks on the faces of her two best friends. "Well, after last year, you should have known that he would insist on it. Besides, as long as you don't aggravate Snape again, it should go smoothly."

"Aggravate Snape! That man invents reasons to hate me," Harry barked back, angrily.

Axel looked up from his position on the floor, resting his legs out effeminately. "Really? He seemed a little cranky, sure, but his kind? They're easy to handle as long as you know what you're doing. Undoubtedly, Snape has a short fuse, however; you just have to find out what he likes and use that to your advantage. "

"You mean be a kiss up," Ron stated, looking disgusted at the thought.

"If you have to call it that. I, personally, like to think of it as 'influential problem solving'," Axel answered with a demure look on his face.

"It doesn't matter what you call it," Harry answered, patting his leg so that Axel would sit up on his own, "everything about me makes Snape mad, and nothing is going to change that." He stood up and headed towards the portrait, an unreadable look on his face. "Every time he looks at me, he sees the shadow of my father."

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Snape sighed angrily as he heard the rapping of knuckles on the door fifteen minutes earlier than he had expected them. He was sorely tempted to leave Potter out in the hallway, standing there like an idiot in Slytherin territory, until 5:00, but decided to be _nice_ for once and let him in.

"You're early," he barked, opening the door to admit the Gryffindor youth. "Had it not occurred to you that maybe there was a reason why I said 5:00, not 4:45? What would have happened if I had been in the middle of something important."

However, his chastisement was not a serious one, and he backed off of the boy without making the conversation too difficult for Harry. "Well, at any rate, there's no reason to but this torture off any longer than we have to. The sooner this starts, the sooner you can get out of my hair."

He walked over to a recently-transfigured chest that was now a table covered in books. "Your pet dog," Snape started in, sneering at the mention of his oh-so-hated fellow teacher, "suggested that, perhaps, I was an insufficient instructor when we last tried this. While I have no idea where he would have gotten this idea," he stated, sarcastically, glaring at Harry, who blushed, "I was forced to re-think my teaching techniques and have made a decision.

"Last time, Dumbledore was more concerned with your learning quickly than your learning properly. This time, mastery is the goal. So we are going to start with step one instead of step seven. Sit!" He pointed at a chair.

Harry tried not to look surprised as he took the seat 'offered' to him. Snape had been _told_ to teach him so haphazardly? No wonder he hadn't been able to understand anything! It hadn't even occurred to him that there were steps that Snape had been instructed to breeze over.

"This," Snape announced, picking up a particularly thick book from the table, "is a particularly good book called The Mind Enshadowed. It was written over two-hundred years ago by Evyvind Gingre, one of the most knowledgeable masters of both Occulomancy and Legalamancy. Two-hundred years," he added, "is not an especially long length of time in arts such as these."

The Gryffindor nodded as the book was handed to him. "Now, do _not_ mess this up! I assure you, Potter, that this book is worth at least three of you! I want you to read the first twenty pages. When you are done, you will summarize them and I will ask you questions from those pages. If you get more than two questions incorrect, you will be re-reading your assignment. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir." Harry flipped open the decorated cover and turned past the cover to the introduction, deciding to go ahead and read it, even though it was numbered I, II, III, etcetera. Knowing Snape, the first twenty pages could either mean the literally first twenty pages in the book, or up to page twenty.

A long stretch passed in silence as the sixth-year Gryffindor read over Gingre's summarization of the history of Legalamancy and Occulamancy, the laws that governed the use of either at the time the book was written, and a quick argument of good versus evil concerning the arts. Harry was surprised that he was actually interested in learning Occulamancy when the bat-like professor was not constantly digging through his most private thoughts in order to provoke him.

At length, Harry closed the tome and looked expectantly at Professor Snape, who was sitting behind his desk with a red quill in his hand, grading papers. However, the Slytherin Head of House didn't even break his rhythm as he muttered under his breath at the stupidity of some of the responses he was getting on the assignment.

"Professor?"

"I'm busy at the moment, Potter, or do you think that the world should revolve around you to such a point that I should stop what I'm doing to pay attention to what you have to say?" Yet, while the words were harsh, the tone was a bit weary. "I'll be finished with this paper in a minute or two. Would it kill you to wait for that long?"

"No, Sir." Harry placed the book still in his lap on the teacher's desk and sat back down, waiting for Snape to finish the spidery scrawl that flowed from his quill all over the parchments of the first-year students. When the bat-like man sighed with finality and scrawled a shaming "Poor!" across the top of the assignment, Harry assumed that he was finished and was ready to continue with the Occulamancy lessons.

And he was.

"Alright, Potter. If you actually bothered to read the assignment instead of skimming over it like I expect you did, then you would be able to tell me: which came first - the art of delving into the mind or the art of shadowing it?"

Harry sat in silence, thinking carefully over his answer. Finally he replied, "no one knows. While Legalimancy was discovered first, we can't know if people were able to guard their minds before then because no one tried to get inside of them."

A mildly surprised look passed over Snape's face as both of his eyebrows shot up. "And why was Legalimancy made illegal to use in courtrooms?"

The Gryffindor boy sighed and a smile crossed his lips as he answered each question fired at him. Even though Snape never complemented him, or even said 'good' or 'correct', Harry knew that he was getting the answers right simply because no chastisement and insults came either. After covering almost every question that could have possibly come from the section of reading that he had done, Snape seemed satisfied.

"Well, I can see that you're at least attempting to take this seriously. We'll see how long it lasts."

He glanced at Harry with his jet-black gaze and Harry suddenly felt like weight was being forced on him from all sides, trying to crush him. However, Snape was neither attempting to put a non-vocal curse on him nor tear into his mind. When the Professor looked away, Harry let a long breath out of his nose as his head fell back. What in the Hell had just happened!

"I'm subtly impressed. It seems that if we want you to get better at a subject, all we have to do is get Headmaster Dumbledore and your precious pet to think that it's imperative."

"Stop talking about Professor Lupin like he's an animal," he muttered, not even thinking about the words passing his lips.

Snape froze and turned on him with a glare on his sallow features. "What did you just say to me, Potter?"

Trapped, Harry answered truthfully. "I asked you to please not insult Professor Lupin in front of me. I know that you don't like him, but he's probably the closest thing I have left to a parent anymore."

The Professor did not seem impressed. "It seems that you are a failure at learning from your mistakes, or have we forgotten what happened last time you had a pretentious canine for your 'father figure'?"

Against his own will, Harry exploded. Standing up sharply and slamming his hands down on Snape's desk, he leaned forward and hissed, "don't you _ever_ talk about Sirius in front of me! How dare you insult him! You and your Death Eater friends are the ones that killed him! Even now, he's still twice the _human_ you'll ever be!"

Snape stood up to tower over the Gryffindor boy and pulled his wand out from the inside of his robes but Harry refused to be intimidated no matter what Snape threatened to do to him. "Potter. I will only tell you this once. I am free to say whatever I choose to; we are in _my_ rooms, are we not? Secondly, your Dogfather _was_ a pretentious little brat. If you don't want to believe me, then ask that damn werewolf. He'll tell you the same.

"Thirdly!" Harry made a quick step back from the desk as Snape leaned forward with the look of pure hatred he only reserved for Potter men on his face. "Despite my disdain for your beloved Black, I was the one who stayed calm and rational long enough to find out that he was in no danger at all. Which one of the two of us, Potter, rushed off at the drop of the hat, endangering the lives of everyone with you, and drawing Black away from safety!"

An invisible thread of light, similar to the colorful one that had connected his wand to Voldemort's, sizzled between their heated glares at one another. "And I will thank you to remember, Potter, that I am still your teacher. Fifty points from Gryffindor for slandering a professor. Now get out!"

Startled, Harry jumped and quickly stormed towards the door. "Fine by me!" He jerked the exit open and stomped out, slamming it shut behind him. Unable to control himself, he leaned against the wall just outside of the room and shook with his fury. The nails of his fingers dug into the palms and his entire _soul_ ached from the heat of his rage for the black-haired man on the other side of the wall.

With a frustrated shout, Harry turned and punched the wall with all of his strength before tearing off down the hallway, and God help anyone who got in his way.

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On the other side of the castle wall, Snape sighed wearily, glad as he could be that the goody-two-shoed Gryffindor was gone. Reaching carefully for the book on his desk, he walked over to the table he had left the collection on and returned it to the storage chest it had once been, the books kept safely inside.

"You two fight like an old married couple," a voice from a darkened portrait informed him point-blank. A flutter of movement rushed over the front of the picture before a flurry of feathers exploded.

Snape glared hatefully at the man who was revealed. "Go away," he demanded of the smart-mouthed tormenter in the frame.

All he received was a chuckle in return. "I'm not going anywhere, Severus. And neither are the rest of your problems. I suppose it would be pointless to remind you of what will happen if your Lord finds out that you know where the books Lucius is looking so adamantly for are."

"Reminders are not necessary." Severus let out a long rush of air and opened the bottom drawer of his desk - the one that no one but he could open. "But I am getting worried. Despite the fact that the books are rare, there have to be more than one copy of each. And, if anyone can get their hands on them, it's Lucius Malfoy."

The man in the frame tilted his head, a long waterfall of hair spilling over his shoulder. "So that's it, then?" he asked, arrogantly. "You're just going to hand three teenagers over on a silver platter? You can't pretend, Severus, that it does not bother you that you help those friends of yours kill children."

"Shut up!" Snape picked up a blank roll of parchment and threw it at the portrait. "Don't you have someone else's life to make a living hell!" he demanded, furiously.

His only answer for a long minute was that same unnerving smirk. "Ah, that I do, Severus. But the fun in being a living portrait is that I can torment him until his soul is ripped into shreds while _I_ sit here and torment you."

"I should rip you from the wall and burn you until there is nothing left of you but ashes!"

A demure smile crossed the man's features and he gave a long blink before opening his unfathomably green eyes. "Can I ask you something, Severus?"

"What?" the Professor demanded, picking up his pen and going back to the grading he had been working on before Harry had interrupted him.

"Why do you hate the boy so much? Even you must realize that sons and their fathers are two different people," he added with a pointed tone that struck deeper than anything that Dumbledore and Voldemort combined had said to him.

"And you speak from experience, I suppose!"

The man bowed his head. "Unfortunately, I do not. There are an infinite number of hints at who… my father may have been. Have I cared enough to thread them all together? Not really." He looked away, an odd expression on his face. "But this conversation is not about me, Severus. I'm just asking; are you sure that you _really_ hate the Potter boy?"

"What are you talking about!" Snape asked, looking sicker and sicker by the second. "Of course I hate the boy! He's just like that good-for-nothing father of his! I _tried_ to be a better person than my father was! Potter aspires to be just like James Potter!"

"Is that really what bothers you so much, Severus? Maybe it _is_ simply because the boy is so much like his father. Or _maybe_, it's because the boy is so much like his father, but you still can't hate him for it."

Snape turned to the portrait with fury in his eyes and, for that moment of rage, forgot he was a wizard. He pulled his fist back and let it fly, narrowly missing the frame of the portrait by a fraction of an inch.

"Temper, temper, Severus."

"Go to Hell, Sephiroth!"

The One-Winged Angel simply continued to smirk.

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_**Ah, yes. Now we're really delving into the Snarry relationship components, aren't we? Tsk tsk. Perhaps it is a bit too clichéd, but sometimes an idea is popular simply because it works!**_

_**However, I do have a few little surprises for our happy relationships in the future.**_

_**Draco and Naminè already got theirs.**_

_**At least, one of them.**_

_**WHOOT! Cameo appearance by Sephiroth! All bow before the silver-haired God! No, the Sephiroth portrait will not become a major plot point, so don't get too excited. Sephirtoh is simply too dreamy to leave out of any good Kingdom Hearts fanfic.**_

_**No, I don't know how a portrait of him got into Hogwarts, let alone into Snape's office.**_

_**It's fiction, people. Use your imaginations.**_


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I still own neither Harry Potter nor Kingdom Hearts.

**Sweatdrops. You have no idea how hard it is to use correct spelling in a Harry Potter fanfic (even a crossover) without the books or internet. Besides, my spelling always sucks. Ask my friends. THANK YOU for the reviews helping me! (Walks away muttering something about 'effing family vacations'.)**

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Anger, pure, heated anger, rolled through Harry Potter as he stormed down the hallway, a scowl deeply engraved on his features. How dare Snape talk about the people he loved that way! He knew that the man didn't care for Sirius, but couldn't he at least _pretend_ to feel _sorry_ that he was **dead**!

Stomping his feet as he climbed up the moving staircase that would take him back to the Gryffindor common room, the harsh glare set on the famous boy's features were enough to send any younger student and a few in the same year that were familiar with his temper scrambling to get out of the way.

Practically hissing the password at the fat lady - "what a rude young man you are today!" - he flew into the common room and towards the lonely fireplace, throwing himself down into a plush chair in order to get some quiet mental-ranting time.

What he was not expecting, however, was to land on a person!

"Youch! Hey! Get yer fat ass off of me!" the person underneath him shrieked, twisting and writhing and sending Harry sprawling ungracefully to the floor. Axel peeked at him from over the edge of the chair, looking quite miffed, with his hair trussed up and a glare in his emerald green eyes. "If you're going to sit on me, at least wait until _I'm_ sitting _up_ okay? That was my spine, dammit."

"Sorry!" Harry groaned out, embarrassed as Hell as he moved to another chair facing the one that the red-head was sitting in. "I didn't see anyone over here so I thought that all of the chairs were empty," he explained.

Axel shrugged, not really angry just not liking being sat upon. "'s'fine. I probably should have been sitting up 'like a grown up', but it's more comfy my way." As if though to prove it, Axel wrapped his body back into the tight shape it had been in, staring dully at the lapping flames in the hearth.

"Um… where did Ron and Hermione go?" he inquired, carefully, sensing that Axel was _not_ in the mood to talk.

"Ran off. I don't think they like me very much," the red-head added, airily. "But, anyway, Granger was like 'since Harry has extra lessons with Snape, we should go to the library and get the notes he'll need to finish the homework'. I'm telling you; I think your friend is crazy."

"She kinda is," he snickered cruelly, still a little miffed and glad for someone to take it out on. "Always been a bookworm, always will be a bookworm. But, I have to admit, it comes in handy. Ron and I are slackers, so we just copy her stuff."

The red-head snorted. "Nice."

A comfortable silence filled the area and the two felt like they were the only ones in the tower. "So…," Axel started, demurely, "extra lessons with the big bat on campus?" His eyebrows raised and he leaned forward in interest.

Unaware of what he was doing, Harry blushed. "Uh, y-yeah, well, I'm… really bad in potions, you know, so I t-take remedial potions a fe-few times a week." Yeah… _that_ sounded confident.

And of course, Axel didn't buy it for a second. "Suuure. Tell me a new story why don't you? Come on, Har. Roxie, Nammy, and I trusted you with _our _secrets, didn't we? Come on, Harry!" He leaned forward and tugged at some of the more scraggly pieces of black hair. "Harry!"

"Okay, okay!" Against his own will, The Boy Who Lived started to crack a smile. "… you know how I told you that _Voldemort_ killed my godfather, Sirius, last year after he lured me into the Department of Mysteries? Well… I tried to tell Snape that I thought Voldemort had him, and he pretended not to have any idea what I meant. That's part of the reason I went; I was so sure that I was the only one who knew."

Axel frowned and patted Harry's messy hair like one would a puppy. "I see. No wonder you hate him."

"I don't-," Harry paused, lightly. "I don't hate him. I think that's what I hate most about him. That I should, but I really can't. I should have given him a chance to do something instead of just assuming that he wouldn't."

The red-head nodded. Slowly, as if though he was dealing with a wild animal, he slid onto the floor in front of the stone hearth and reached out for Harry with both arms, like a child inviting him to play. "Come down here."

Quite worried for the other's sanity, Harry slipped up next to him, leaning his elbows on the hearth and feeling the fluttery heat from the fire. "You know," he commented, "there's something called a 'fire call' here where someone's face appears in the ashes and they talk to you."

Axel smiled lightly, staring into the flames.

"You're acting funny," Harry accused, suddenly. "Is it still because of your fight with Roxas?"

Two fine eyebrows raised at him. "Just because I'm a clown most of the time doesn't mean that I'm not capable of having a serious conversation, Harry. But, now that you mention it, I am pretty sore at that little blonde doofus."

"… was that thing really a Heartless?"

"Yeah. I've only seen a few, though. There was one in the Deep Jungle and a few Phil bred in the Olympic Coliseum, but that was it. I guess such a rare Heartless; it isn't that hard to understand why Roxas wouldn't believe me."

"Yeah, but isn't he supposed to be your boyfriend?" Harry asked. "If you love someone, you believe them, no matter what. Because you don't _lie_ to the people you love."

Axel chuckled. "If only everyone was as simple as you are, Harry."

The black-haired boy flushed and scowled, turning away, insulted.

However, Axel sat up on his haunches and smirked down at him. "I didn't say that it was a bad thing, Brat. You remind me a _lot_ of Sora-chan. But not everything is so simple. Like… you hate Voldemort, don't you?"

Harry nodded, passionately.

"And you've said a million times how much you hate Snape, yes?"

"Well, yeah…."

Axel raised an eyebrow at the drop-off but let it slide. "Do you hate Snape as much as you hate Voldemort?"

"It's a different kind of hate!" Harry insisted, firmly. "Voldemort has killed so many innocent people. He murdered my parents! If I ever got the opportunity… I don't want to have to kill anybody," he cut in quickly, "but, if I had to kill someone it would be him.

"Snape is not evil, just evil-acting. He shows favoritism to his own students over any others and he blames me for something that I didn't even do! He can't let go of a childhood grudge, even holding it against Lupin, who's trying to make peace."

"It's a different kind of hate, but it's a lesser kind, isn't it?" Axel asked, getting a bit irritated at Harry's round-about way of answering his very simple questions (at least to his mind).

"I guess."

"See?" the red-head inquired, leaning forward as he spoke so that he was looking right into eyes as vibrantly green as his own. "You're the 'hero'. The 'white'. Voldemort is pure evil, right? Black. A black and white world. But Snape is neither good nor evil. Grey. But you see everything that isn't white as black. You're judging him just the way he does you."

The Boy Who Lived opened his mouth to protest before he paused, a thoughtful look on his face. It was such a cute look, that Axel burst out laughing, getting a pouting glare that almost perfectly replicated Sora. Axel smiled at him, lightly.

"Hey, when's dinner around here? I wanna try talking to Roxas again. I'm still mad at him, but I love him, yanno?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, and I'll bet you're starting to get hungry, too."

"Who, me? Nah." Axel winked, green eyes shining. "Anyway, I'm sure that I've kept you away from Ron and Hermione long enough. I'm gonna go find my friends. See ya, Brat." Practically jumping to his feet, he walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room, practically leaving a wave of heat as he moved.

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Roxas sighed as he walked into the Slytherin Common Room and flopped down on a leather couch that groaned under his weight, making him cruelly think of the cow that it had once been. He was in a sadistic mood. Oh yes, he was.

Draco may have qualified as a 'close friend' - they had trusted him with their secret from the beginning - but those looming body-guards of the platinum blonde's were about to drive him _crazy_!

Apparently, they assumed that turning their heads when they talked to one another was a sure way that Roxas would not hear the things they were saying about him. And his makeshift family.

"But what kind of Slytherin goes and has dinner with the Gryffindorks?"

"One that isn't brave enough to stand up against McKing."

"Probably couldn't stand the thought of being apart from his boyfriend."

"Gross!" Crabbe announced, passionately.

A tick formed itself behind Roxas's right eye. "Blaise?" he inquired coolly of the boy who was lounged out on a chair near to him, "are they _always_ such jerks, or is this something special that your House has reserved just for me?"

Blaise, who was also in a foul mood (from Naminè's apparent disinterest in him), sneered. "You sure do think highly of yourself; assuming that they would bother and all."

"God," Roxas grumbled, "everyone around here is an asshole today." Frustrated at the blatant lack of happy-friendship-ness that the others were doling upon him, he opted to call it an afternoon and go take a nap until dinner started.

Going into the room that he shared with the other two males, he crawled up his bed and buried his head under the fluffy pillow, pulling the covers up over his shoulders and nesting in. He was finally starting to settle into life in the wizarding world, despite the fact that history had proven him to be a bit inflexible.

Just as he was going to enter a misty version of la-la-land, something pale, blonde, and angry slammed into the room, throwing the door into the wall and knocking a portrait off of the wall ("Excuse me! How rude!")

"Hey, Drake," he mumbled, sleepily. "What did Professor Batman want?"

"Nothing!" the other boy snapped, dropping to his own bed and folding his hands, resting his chin on them.

Roxas sat up and looked at the boy with a quirked eye. "'Nothing' was worth startling the hell out of me and dropping the pretty picture to the floor? Jeez, can't wait to see what you do when 'something' happens."

Instead of responding to the jibe, Draco grabbed one of the silk-covered pillows from the top of his bed and pressed it up against his face, screaming into it, loudly, his frustration barely muffled. After a long moment, during which Roxas watched with a quirked eye as the platinum blonde's chest heaved, he let the pillow fall.

"Calm now?"

"How dare he try to tell me how to live my life!" he demanded, furiously.

The Nobody blinked. "Snape, you mean?"

Draco looked up at him, rose lips pressing into a thin, bloodless line. "It doesn't matter," he insisted, hatefully. He stood up and started pacing around the middle of the room in a wide circle. As he moved, his black cloak billowed around his feet until, finally, it caught under one of his dragon-skin boots.

BANG!

Roxas started laughing so hard that he shook with tremors of humor, wrapping his arms around his stomach and clutching his middle until he rolled off of the bed right onto the floor.

"Th-th-that was hilarious!"

"Shut up…," Draco grumbled out, hair mussed and clothes rumpled from his fall.

"Whatever." Roxas rolled onto his knees and got up, a genuine smile on his lips. "Come on. Let's go find some food in this place."

Suddenly, the other boy sobered up and looked just as sullen as he was before. "I can't," he said, "I said that I would eat with Crabbe and Goyle. What with you and your friends taking up so much of my time since we got here," he added with a haughty flick of the wrist.

"Oh?" Roxas smirked. "I thought that you were taking up _my sister's_ time, hmm?"

Draco blushed and looked away. "Don't worry. I won't bother Naminè anymore."

"WHAT!" The Nobody grabbed him by his robes and pulled him close to glare right into his eyes. "How can you say that! You've barely left her alone for a minute since we _got_ to this world, and now, what? You've decided that she isn't _worth it_? Is that it!"

"Of course not!" he raged, but he didn't continue.

After a few long, tense moments, Roxas put the other boy down. "In case you haven't noticed, Naminè likes you, too. If she didn't, I wouldn't let you get away with flirting with her."

"But… Blaise-."

" - and I have an agreement. He can flirt with her all he wants, as long as he remains harmless. Besides, it's not like Naminè is interested in him. She thinks you're 'cute'. And you were nice to us even after you found out what we are."

The platinum blonde looked a little ruffled by all of the talk about Naminè. "Whatever," he finally mumbled out. "You were complaining about food; since we spent almost all of the afternoon in the library, they should be starting to get dinner on the tables."

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, food," Roxas said, emotionlessly.

Waving goodbye to Draco over his shoulder, he headed back out into the common room and out into the frosty dungeon hallway. Lightly, he wrapped his arms around his upper body and continued down the twisting corridors that lead to the stairs.

However, as he turned a sharp corner without poking his head around it first, he collided firmly with the broad chest of another human being, and, being the lesser of forces, fell flat on his butt. "OW!"

"Why don't you watch where you're going, you little fop!" Roxas glared up at the figure of Georges McKing standing over him, the sparse light in the underground chambers casting a dark glow on his features.

"Oh, go jump in the lake. Then again, an oversized boulder like you would probably drown anyway. Now why don't you be a _gentleman_ and help me up?" Seeing the dark glare, the blonde shrugged and got himself off of the floor.

"Jackass," he hissed as he walked a wide breadth around the angry seventh year.

Instead of letting Roxas get away with his smart comment (not that the universe liked the blonde enough for **that** to be an option), McKing picked the small blonde boy up by the collar of his robes and slammed his body up against the wall.

Immediately, the blonde's hands went for his Keyblades before he remembered that he couldn't use them without getting in trouble. He tried to get his wand out of the inside of his cloak but McKing grabbed both of his wrists and pinned them up against the wall.

"Get off of me," Roxas demanded, hatefully, his 'firm' look set in place.

McKing just seemed humored. "Is that what you tell your little Gryffindor boyfriend, too? What, you'll whore yourself to a Gryffindork but won't give up to the members of your _own_ house?" He gave Roxas a mock-sultry look.

"Oh, go to hell, you pervert!" Roxas snapped, angrily.

The older boy turned him so that his chest was pressed flush against the wall and his arms were pinned behind his back, held with one hand. McKing reached into his robes and pulled out his wand, pointing it at the small of Roxas's back. "Scribius 'whore'!"

Roxas shrieked in pain as he felt like a million fire ants were having a buffet on his flesh, or a hot knife had sliced through his skin. He grit his teeth and tried not to scream but eventually felt the cry ripped out of his throat, echoing down the stone corridor.

"What's the bloody racket!"

"Hello!"

McKing pulled his wand away from Roxas and tucked it back into his robes quickly. "Nothing's going on, Anderson," he told another seventh year who rushed down the hallway to find the source of the noise. "Poor Clearwater was hurt, but I decided to help him out."

The Nobody, hands quaking, could not argue with the lie and McKing and Anderson exchanged glances before walking off together, talking between themselves, a dark laugh following behind them.

A long moment passes as Roxas kept himself barely standing up against the wall. As soon as the two boys were out of sight, he let himself fall forwards and slip down onto the floor. Dimly, he thought to himself how similar the pain felt to fighting Axel in the mansion basement.

He could hear steps coming down the hallway and tried to stand back up so that he would not appear weak, but he could barely move his arms now, let alone get to his feet.

"Mister Clearwater? What are you doing on the floor?"

Roxas looked up and sighed with relief. "Professor Snape! I'm sorry, I'm hurt and can't get up on my own." He carefully reached a hand up and, with a reluctant murmur, the Head of his house helped him to his feet.

"How did you get hurt?" the professor inquired with a raise eyebrow. "Nothing seems to be wrong with you."

The blonde frowned.

Georges McKing, he thought vaguely, was a very different kind of tormentor than Seifer's 'disciplinary committee'. Seifer may have used his position to bully those that he considered beneath him, but at least he was a decent human being!

Tattling on McKing like a child wouldn't get anything accomplished. It might even make the upper-classman _more_ violent with him the next time around, and Roxas winced at the thought of it.

"Oh, it was no big deal. Just my being stupid. Guess I'm late for dinner now, though."

Snape frowned. "Come with me to my office, Clearwater; I want to talk to you about something important."

Roxas blinked and nodded. "Yessir."

When Snape turned on his heel and walked off with his cloak billowing, Roxas pulled his robes closer to his body, feeling something sticky and wet trickling down his back and realizing with horror that it was most likely blood.

Oh, McKing was going to _pay_ for this!

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_**Hiding face in shame over the amount of time it took to get this update out!**_

**I'm soooooooooo sorry! I know it's been almost two weeks, but I have what I think is a very valid excuse!**

**Tomorrow, August ninth, I move into a brand-new school at which I will be living in a dorm room. And I'm a high-school junior! So, yeah, I've been doing last-minute shopping, calling my roommate, spending quality time with my mother, etcetera.**

**PLEASE FORGIVE ME! _Bursts into tears!_**


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Me still no own!

**Wow. School here is a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Very busy at times, but other times you're just sitting around bored. I only have six classes, though, and am on a block schedule kind of thing. Yay for me - classes Wednesday end at 11-ish. So I get the rest of the day off to explore _my_ city.**

**We have a required study period every night here, too. I don't actually use it to study that much because I'm a pretty quick reader. I'll usually finish my homework and get down to work on my stories, but, SHH, don't tell anyone!**

**By the way… it's very amusing when people figure out plot points in my stories so easily. You people just don't like surprises, do you?**

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"What is it, Professor?" Roxas inquired as Snape lead him down the dark, dank hallway to his office. Vaguely, the blonde Nobody thought to himself how the trip there seemed more foreboding than the last time he had visited.

Maybe something to do with how Draco had acted upon return?

"Get inside and take a seat, Mr. Clearwater," the hook-nosed professor stated ignoring his student's question for the time being. Unhappily, Roxas sat down in the seat in front of the desk and waited for Snape to get behind it before he tried to talk to him again.

"Sir? Something you said really seemed to upset Draco earlier. Did something happen?"

"In not so few words. How many people have you and your friends told that you are 'nobodies'?"

The blonde put his hand under his chin, thinking about it. "Not that many, really. You, of course, Dumbledore, Lupin, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy. Blaise Zabini might have some clue but I doubt he knows what it means. Why?"

Snape took a deep breath before sighing. "Mr. Clearwater, have you met Draco's father by any chance?"

"Yeah, come to think of it. When we first met Draco in Diagon Alley, Malfoy Senior showed up. Practically dragged Draco off by his hair when he found out that none of us are children of witches or wizards here. Though, if you ask me, that's probably because Draco and Naminè are both pretty smitten with each other."

"Do you think that Lucius Malfoy knows that you three are Nobodies?"

Roxas gave the professor an incredulous look. "I doubt it! The only way he could figure it out would be for Draco to have told him, and something tells me that there is no love-loss between father and son."

"That's true."

A long stretch of silence built up, and, finally, the blonde sighed.

"Professor Snape?" Roxas leaned forward, leaning his hands on his knees. As he rested his weight forward, his shirt brushed against the sticky liquid all over his back and he winced, cursing McKing even more darkly under his breath. "I know that you're probably a busy man, and I've had a hard first day of classes. Can we just cut the pussy-footing around and you tell me what it is that has you so worried?"

The Head of Slytherin looked duly knocked off-balance by the calm tone with which a _student_ dared try to tell him what to do. "Ten points from Slytherin for insubordination, Mr. Clearwater." Roxas gave the hooked-nosed man a 'you've got to be kidding me' look but wisely kept his mouth shut. After a long moment, Snape relented. "I don't know what Headmaster Dumbledore told you when you were brought here, but do you know anything about a wizard called the Dark Lord?"

The Nobody thought about it. "Oh! Yeah, sure! Voldemort, right? The one who killed Harry's parents? Evil baddie with a mortality complex?"

Something about the sour look on Snape's face told him that he had said something wrong.

"Mr. Clearwater, the Dark Lord is the most villainous figure that the wizarding world has seen since the days of medieval Europe. I would hardly refer to him as having a 'mortality complex'."

The blonde shrugged. "Sorry; didn't realize that insulting a bad guy would offend the good guys around here. Boy, you wizards are a strange bunch. Anyway, what about the Dark Lord Voldemort? You said that he had something to do with Draco and his old man?"

"Yes, he does. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, is what is referred to as a Death Eater. Do you know what that is?"

Roxas thought long and hard about it. Hadn't Lupin said something about a creature like that? "Oh! Sure, I remember now. He's a dementor? I thought those were all cloak-i-fied and dank. Like Xaldin with a personality or so Axel claimed."

Had it been seemly, Snape would have slapped his hand against his forehead. "_No_, Lucius Malfoy is not a Dementor! He's too pale! Death Eaters are Voldemort's followers who do all of his dirty work for him. There are over a million Death Eaters all over the world. Most of those were initiated after the resurrection."

"You make it sound like some pseudo-Christian thing," Roxas muttered, blandly.

The Professor glared at him. "I assure you, if anything, it is the opposite. Voldemort and his followers are killers. That's all there is to it. They believe that anyone who did not come from a long family history of witches and wizards is a 'mud blood' or impure blood."

The blonde frowned. "Like us, you mean?"

"More specifically, you and Mr. Axion. Miss Lalune is from a very prominent witch family. Just not one that this world knows about. Or so says Headmaster Dumbledore."

"What do they do to mud bloods?"

"Do you remember what happened to Potter's parents?"

Roxas's mouth fell open. He knew there was cruelty in the world - hell, along with Xemnas, he had helped to cause some of it! - but that was just…. "Simply for not being 'pure'? How can anyone do something so crazy?"

When Snape did not answer, the Nobody's eyes scrunched closed.

"So Draco's dad wants to kill us for not being 'pure'?"

"Not exactly. You must realize that you and the others have a very rare type of magic, at least as far as this world is concerned. It is-," Snape seemed to be judging his words carefully, "a less-controlled magic for the lack of incantations. The Dark Lord would be very happy, however, to get anything _unusual_ in his arsenal."

Roxas blinked for a long moment. "He wants to kill us," he started, monotonously, "but yet he wants to recruit us. Isn't that kinda like 'you shouldn't attempt to kill the hero unless you've given up all want to sleep with him'?"

"Perhaps," Snape answered, getting irritated with the smart-mouthed blonde boy. How did anyone not take the Dark Lord seriously! "Basically, the point of this whole conversation has been to tell you to keep your head down. It does no one any good if you three end up dead or enslaved."

The blonde frowned. "I thought Dumbledore promised that we would be safe as long as we were here?"

"The Headmaster does not… always take human nature into consideration. I'm sure it would surprise him greatly to find out that Mister Malfoy and Miss Lalane have some sort of romantic feelings for each other."

"Yes, Sir."

Snape sat back in his chair, sure that he had at least begun to impress the severity of the situation at hand into his new Slytherin student. "Very well. You may go."

"Thank you. I'm going to dinner." A frown still on his lips, Roxas stood up and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. _'Who does he think he is! I can take care of myself!'_

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Maleficent smirked as she re-banished the lizard-like heartless. "Distrust breeds more distrust. Hate breeds more hate. _Darkness!_… breeds more darkness. I would never have thought that the King would be so devious."

Pete, sweating nervously and wringing his hands, looked up at the evil witch. "Well, Maleficent, maybe he distrusts us less than he does them Nobodies. I mean, we may be evil, but them Nobodies was just… cra-a-azy."

"Be quiet!" she snapped, slamming the end of her staff on the ground. "You're senseless rambling is getting on my last nerve!" The witch sighed and summoned another Heartless from the Realm of Darkness. This time, a Black Mushroom appeared.

"What are you going to do with that, Maleficent?"

"I'm going to give it to that blithering imbecile. Seems like the more dangerous a creature is, the more he likes it." She laughed and a green flame emitted from the top of her staff. "I'm going to that filthy bar again. That's where the oaf seems most susceptible."

"What should I do?"

She looked at him as if though she had no idea why he was there. "Do whatever it is that you think needs to be done."

With that, she engulfed herself and the dark-colored Heartless in her flame, depositing them outside of a small town. "You stay here," she told the Black Mushroom. "I'll come back for you shortly."

Not waiting for a response, she tucked her staff away into her robes and walked through the village, flipping up the high collar of her robe. Despite the dark of the night, the small town was alive with shoppers and groups of young people walking along the unpaved roads. Maleficent paid them no-never-mind as she moved past them, easily.

Finally, she stopped in front of The Hogs Head and walked inside. Immediately, she was met by the sickly-sweet smell of alcohol mixed with the rancid smoke of pipes. Wrinkling her nose, she sat down at the bar next to a large figure with a barrel of mead in front of him.

"Well hello there, Madam," he greeted, tipsily, as he turned towards her. "I remember seein' you before! Yer the one who gave me the Steal' Sneak!" His loud, booming voice could be heard all throughout the bar, but no one seemed to be paying a bit of attention to him.

"That I am," she replied, in her 'kind' voice. "Since you were so interested in my Stealth Sneak, I thought I might bring you something else very interesting that I found. It's far more exciting than an electric lizard."

The giant of a man seemed very interested indeed. "Can I see it?" he asked, forcefully.

"Of course! Why, I would be insulted if you didn't."

She rested her hand on the crook of his arm, long nails digging into his flesh as she lead him out the door.

"What kind of brute do you have this time?" he asked, sounding like a kid in a candy shop.

"Oh, it's just a little something. A Black Mushroom. A living fungus-like creature. When they feel threatened, they emit a nasty poisonous gas that can stun you." A sadist at heart, she smiled when she said this.

However, the other seemed genuinely fascinated. "And you really don' mind loanin' me all of the creatures to teach my classes with?"

She waved off his concern. "Nonsense. It would be a crime if others did not have the chance to learn about the monsters in the world."

The man made a drunken pause and started off quietly, "they ain't monsters."

"No," Maleficent agreed, "no more than you or I."

They walked out to the woods where the volatile little fungus was waiting on them. "Amazin'," he breathed, poking the foul-tempered Heartless.

The Black Mushroom hissed smoke at him.

"Look," Maleficent said, sweetly, "he likes you." She nodded the giant male's way and walked off into the woods, hearing his sickening cooing over the living 'shroom. "I'm sorry, my subjects, but we must all make sacrifice for the greater good."

She reached for her staff and pulled it out, slamming it on the ground and teleporting away, more than confident that this 'Hagrid' man would do her bidding just fine.

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"Well maybe, if you hadn't blown up at me for something that wasn't my fault, you wouldn't feel like you needed to apologize to me!"

"I'm _not_ apologizing to you! If anything, I would think that you would feel guilty about not believing me!"

"And I was right to, wasn't I? No Heartless!"

Axel snarled, flames swirling up around the two as they argued in the hallway. As Axel had been leaving, giving up on his boy's appearance, Roxas had appeared around the corner, knocking them both to the ground.

He actually _had_ started off trying to apologize to Roxas before the blonde had tried to claw his eyes out! His Roxie was just in a _bad_ mood. The blonde had, luckily, not reached for his Keyblades, preferring to give the red-head a tongue-lashing instead.

"I don't care how much of a pretentious little shit you want to act like, _Rox_as. This isn't the way to handle things!"

"This coming from the bastard who tried to _kill_ me in my own town!"

Axel furiously slapped the blonde across the face. "What's **happened** to you, Roxas! You haven't been the same since you and Sora separated! When we first got to the world, you were acting so bizarre, and now you won't even… you know what, fuck you, Roxas. I can take a lot of abuse, but this is too damn much!"

He turned to storm off when Roxas grabbed him around the wrist. "Wait, dammit!" Roxas tugged and brought Axel's body into his lap. "Ow…."

"Ouchies. That hurt." Axel looked behind him at Roxas. "Alright already, you got my attention. What is it?"

"Come with me. I need to tell you something." The blonde dragged his friend down the hallway by his thin wrist, into a room and closed the door behind them. "Axel, someone's after us!"

"What!" The red-head's nose crinkled. "Where in the hell did that come from?"

"I'm serious, Axel! Someone knows about the Nobodies. Might even know that the three of us are here. And you won't like who it is…. Draco's father."

"Son of a bitch," Axel cursed, quietly. "So he's using Draco to spy on us?"

"That was what I thought, too, but I doubt it. Snape said something that sent him into a damn fit earlier and something tells me it's connected. I don't want to think one of the only friends we've made is a traitor, but…."

"It's a possibility."

Roxas nodded. "It's a scary thought, isn't it? I mean, so much has changed since we came here. Hell, since before we came here. I mean, even when I was having those… _day dreams_."

Axel smirked. "Yeah, those. Well, they went away after you remembered, didn't they?"

The blonde looked a bit off-put. "So I was just supposed to remember that we had fucked?"

"We didn't!" Axel protested. "I told you that. We never… actually, yanno, had sex. I mean, wanted to? I know I did. But… minor and over-eighteen pyromaniac just don't mix well. In your mind, anyway - you're the one who kept saying no."

Roxas bowed his head and then reached up and unzipped his black robe. The fire-charm that Axel had given him, the one he'd had put on a chain, dangled from his neck.

Axel's expression softened. "I hadn't seen it. I thought you had just shoved it somewhere. Forgot about it."

"How could I?" Roxas suddenly smirked and leaned closer to Axel. "It's pretty and warm. I really like it, you know."

"Jeez, Roxas, you slut," Axel teased, pushing the other boy away. "So… yea, nay? Forgives me and I forgives you and we pretend today didn't happen?"

"I guess we could try," Roxas replied. He shuddered. What had he just been trying to do? He had just, as he talked to the red-head, felt the over-whelming urge to rectify that and sleep with him! Roxas tried to think of anything! Ice! Snow! DiZ in a bikini! … Roxas got nauseous.

"You okay, Kiddo?" Axel asked in concern as Roxas turned green.

"Yeah… I'm fine." He shuddered. "DiZ… frilly underwear…."

Axel laughed. "Remember that day Marluxia comes in, pale, saying how he had just found a computer file oh-so-subtly labeled "SMUT! Ansem the Wise and His Slut of an Assistant!'"

Roxas blanched. "AXEL!"


	17. Chapter 17

-1Disclaimer: Still no own.

**I know, I know. I'm sorry. Sighs I'm still working my tail off up here, and it shows… my grades are way down from the all A's I'd come to expect from myself. Guess that's why it's a specialized academic school, but it's kicking my ass half the time. I'll work all through break, though!**

**Also, updates will come a bit faster now that I remember exactly where I was headed with this story. I kind of forgot exactly which direction I wanted to go, but then the plot bitch-slapped me in the face and was like 'psh, how could you forget me?!'**

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"So, anyway," Axel mused a few hours later from where he and Roxas had snuck up to the astronomy tower to be together for a while, "so Sissy's new boyfriend might be a spy."

"Like I said, I just don't think so," the blonde thought. "He doesn't seem like it at all, does he, really? I mean, how would I know, right? But still, I really like Draco. He's good for Naminè. I don't want to hang him so quickly."

"You never want to hang anyone no matter what they've done," Axel said, taking Roxas's hand against his and spreading their fingers wide. The blonde was still small - Axel's hand was twice the size of his, though far more slender.

"I suppose." Roxas laid his head against Axel's shoulder, staring up at the sunset and thinking. "Axel… why did I fall in love with you? Back when we first met, I mean; just, why?"

"Who knows," Axel said with a smile, cupping the little ball of fire in his hand, thinking back to the early meeting when he had given it to the blonde. "I don't think you had much of a choice. I mean, Xemnas was always going on and on about how Nobodies had no hearts, but here we are."

Roxas smirked and licked Axel's ear. "Yes, yes. Here, at a school we'd never heard of before and in different houses where I get to see you a whole… few times per day?"

"Yeah. Things would have been a lot easier if they would have just brought me back and then left us on Destiny Island. We would have been together, wouldn't we?"

Roxas nodded his head. "Yeah. If it weren't for stupid Sora and his stupid boyfriend-who-he-won't-admit-is-his-boyfriend and the-girl-who-_thinks_-she's-his-girlfriend-when-she-really-isn't, our lives would have been a lot easier. I swear, Axel, you've never been inside that kid's mind! He's a wreck. He's practically trying to force himself to like the girl."

"Do you think that's why you _don't_ like Naminè, even though she had a crush on you?"

He turned around and gave Axel a 'look'. "No, I don't think that's why. I never thought of Naminè as anything more than a sister. The thought of it just…," Roxas shuddered. "Besides, I'd already met someone who seemed _obsessed_with me by the time I encountered her, which, as I'm sure you intended it to do, left the tiniest pin-prick of doubt in my mind."

"I couldn't help myself, Roxas. I didn't think it was fair. Why should everyone else - Xemnas, Saix, Zexion, Marluxia, Demyx, hell, even Xaldin - all get who they wanted and I had to give up my little lover? I couldn't make myself stay with the Organization after that. Just watching them-!"

"So you thought that dying would be the better option?!"

Axel sighed and swiftly changed the subject.

"Who knows. Oi, Roxie? Are you liking it here? I mean, despite it's coming from King Big-Ears, it isn't that bad. Maybe we just need to give this place more of a chance. Harry, Blaise, and Draco are all pretty awesome, yeah? Especially if Draco ends up Sissy's boy."

The blonde shrugged. "Axel? Wh-what was it like to die?"

His boyfriend cuddled him close. "It wasn't the dying part that was bad, it was what came after. It was cold. Even Vexen was freezing. I would try to keep everyone warm, but it just wouldn't work. And there were voices yelling at us, calling us killers and monsters and whatever else. Then, sometimes, one of us would fall into a kind of living nightmare where we relived the worst moments of our lives. I thought we'd be at piece, but I guess that doesn't happen for a Nobody."

Roxas shuddered. "I'm afraid of dying now. Do you think it will be different for me, being a part of Sora?"

"I don't know."

They sat in silence for a while. "They're still there, aren't they? The Nobodies. They couldn't escape from that place."

Axel nodded, pressing his lips together thinly. "They are. None of them should be. Despite how it may have seemed, you know, and I know, that no one in Organization XIII was exactly how they appeared. DiZ and Mickey had no right to condemn us for being different."

Roxas pressed back against his chest. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Roxie. Rox-y," he added, with little hand motions, to the tone of the Chicago song.

The blonde rolled his eyes, having heard the joke way too many times before.

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"This is perfect!" Voldemort screamed in joy, ripping a page out of a book. "Lucius, oh, what you have managed to bring your lord," he purred. "Look at this!"

The blonde set down the tome he had been trying to decipher and walked up to his lord. He took the paper and read over it, eyes growing wider with surprise as he continued to read. "A warm, endless place of twilight. A world of darkness illuminated only by the light of the moon. Connected by a single plane of perpetual death and rebirth? Master, is this where the things we are looking for are?"

"I believe so! You may have just brought me the way, Lucius, to find the Nobodies." His pale lips curled into a grin. "How interesting. Interesting indeed. All we have to do is find a way to this other world."

"My Lord, some of the other texts have suggested that a single person holds the only key to getting into this place. What if we cannot find this person?"

Voldemort turned to Lucius who stepped back and bowed, quickly. "That, you fool, is what I keep _you_ around for. You will find me the way into this world immediately."

Lucius bowed deeper and apparated to his own castle, starting a new search through the endless papers. He honestly thought, if asked, that Voldemort was sending them on a wild goose chase. The Nobodies seemed like some old folk tale more than a force of powerful mages.

He tried to find any reference to the 'key' that could open The World That Never Was. At least their information was closer to being right now. He knew that they were missing several books, many of which there had been only one copy of that had been swiped up by this person who was also looking for the Nobodies.

And that was another point, wasn't it?! They weren't alone in their search! What if they finally decoded all of this garbage to end up with nothing! But Voldemort would not be dissuaded from his belief that these Nobodies were the only way to defeat Harry Potter.

He sighed. From what it seemed like, the Nobodies had their own enemy to worry about, a denizen of the light, who soundly kicked their joint ass. If they couldn't defeat their own enemy, then why did Voldemort so strongly believe that they would defeat his own?

A few hours later, along with a few cups of very strong muggle coffee - the only thing Lucius Malfoy would ever say muggles did right - he let out a loud yelp. "I found it!"

"Found what, dear?" his wife asked, walking into the room, eyes narrowing. "I hope it is good; you just startled my birds."

"Forgive me, Narcissa; I just found what Our Lord has been seeking!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

**((Now for something completely different….))**

"I'm bored."

A single dark-purple eye opened and rolled to look in his direction before closing again, the eye's owner taking a deep breath and continuing to sit, legs crossed, on the invisible floor.

"Seriously! Play with me!"

A deeper, more pronounced sigh.

"Xaldin!"

"Oh, for the love of Valhalla, just play with the brat and shut him up!" Saïx snapped, giving Demxy his coldest glare. "If I have to listen to that whining for the rest of my afterlife, I'm going to go insane!"

"You mean more than you already are?" the blonde-haired female asked, giving him an evil grin.

Saïx turned his cold gaze on her.

"Cease this endless fighting, all of you. If this is what we have now, just this endless plane, perhaps it would do us all better to make light of the situation and not drive each other into acts of violence."

Everyone gave Xemnas a 'yeah, right' look and the Superior glared back. "Or else."

Marluxia let out a small sound and pulled Zexion close to him, earning a loud protest from the Schemer but not relenting. "This is miserable. And that damn - and I know this will sound totally hypocritical - rebel hothead wanna-be found some way out of here."

"Yes," Xaldin said in mock-agreement, "because what we all really want is the rebirth of the traitorous neophyte."

The pink-haired botanist flipped him the bird.

Xigbar teleported behind the man and grabbed the up-turned finger, bending it back until Marluxia squirmed. "Now that's rude! What a piss-poor way to treat a friend!"

"Get your paws off of me!" Marluxia jerked away so fast that he sent Zexion sprawling into Luxord's lap, who shoved the smaller man off into the floor. As Lexeaus stood up to physically protest the rough treatment of his friend, Xemnas turned to Saïx.

"What are we going to do?"

The blue-haired were-elf shrugged. "I don't know, Sir."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Um…." Roxas leaned over and jabbed Draco in the shoulder. "Call me stupid, but I don't think that this is a good grade… is it?"

"…." The other looked at the paper and pressed his tongue against his cheek. "No, it's not."

"How bad is it?"

"The worst you can possibly get."

Axel collapsed over his desk. "Shit. You blow up one lousy cauldron! Or four. And two attempts at the assignment… and the teacher…."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Gee, I wonder how we could have possibly gotten a bad grade, don't you, _Axel_?"

"Hey, you act like it's all my fault!" the red-head protested, crossing his arms over his head. "So chemistry and I don't mix! I hear some cute-assed but air-headed blonde is dismal at Divination."

"Anyone with half a brain is," Blaise cut in. "I didn't even bother with that class. It's all smoke and mirrors, predicting that the most obvious bad thing possible will happen to someone. For example 'You, Axel, will have a fight with a loved one'. Well duh! Roxas slaps you upside the head at least seven times a day! Obvious."

The two Nobodies nodded in agreement. "So," Roxas asked, "I should predict stuff like 'I see a professor yelling at a student. I… it's Professor Snape… and Harry Potter.'"

"You would have points counted off for him not cursing me to death."

The Slytherins jumped in surprise but Axel just raised his head. "Hello Harry."

"Hullo. Just wanted to know how you did on your first potions assignment."

Axel made a face and shoved the paper at his housemate. Harry nodded. "Get used to it. Even Hermione barely pulls off acceptable, and that's only if Snape's feeling generous."

"But I thought he was supposed to give really good marks to Slytherins," Roxas protested, glowering at him.

"Maybe when you hand in separate papers, you'll get all Outstandings."

Draco gave Harry a cool look. "I hope you aren't trying to insinuate that the Professor gives unfair grades, Potter."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Malfoy," the Golden Boy replied in a tired tone.

"I would hope not."

The entire group squeaked and turned their heads sharply, seeing Snape standing over them, his arms crossed over his chest and a sour look on his face. "After all, the number of points that could be deducted from a house for such accusations could make Mr. Potter very, _very_ unpopular around his little entourage."

"With all due respect, Sir - little enough as that may be," Harry added under his breath, "my 'little entourage' seems to have shrank from the size it used to be."

Axel made a face. "Wow, I'm a one-person fan-club."

"Don't joke - there used to be badges."

Draco snorted under his breath and Blaise rolled his eyes. "It would be funnier if we weren't kidding," he added, "right, Spew-boy?"

"It's S.P.E.W.," Harry replied with a shrug. "Personally, I think the elves are happy as they are, but Hermione believes they need to be saved from their cruel and heartless masters."

Roxas had to stifle a laugh at the look on Snape's face. Apparently, he was not used to being openly disregarded by the student he was trying to intimidate. "Um, can I ask why I got such a bad grade?" Roxas asked, holding up his paper with a large spidery D scrawled on it. "**Axel** was the one who blew the cauldron up. I think I should be rewarded for keeping him from killing anyone."

"HEY!" Axel protested, "I warned you that I'm not very good at mixing volatile things together in a bowl."

"It is part of working with a partner, Mr. Clearwater. If Miss Granger chose someone smarter to work with, perhaps she would not be receiving the grades she is," he added pointedly at Harry. "Though it is obvious that her boyfriend's parents would have to save up for a while to buy the boy a clue."

Draco and Blaise both laughed a bit bitingly at the cutting humor of their head of house, and even Axel's slim shoulders shook.

"Please don't talk that way about my friends, _Sir_," Harry snapped out.

The black-haired professor raised an eyebrow. "Detention."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Axel moaned as he looked at the huge plates of food sitting on the table. "I can't eat this British food," he said, bluntly, as he sat down at the Gryffindor table, scooting Ron over with his feminine hips. "Half of it is made of the part of the pig that isn't good enough to go in sausage and the other half isn't even cooked."

"If 'er gonna complain, leave," Ron said around a mouthful of the casserole.

The red-head made a disgusted face. "Harry! Is there anything at the table that isn't disgusting?!" he demanded, poking his new friend. "Come on, find something for me to eat!"

"Did you know you're more demanding than half of the girls that I know put together?"

Ginny let out a loud complaint at that but there was a smirk about her lips. "Why don't you try the potatoes, Axel? They don't have any animal in them and will help you to stop looking like a skeleton."

"Excuse me! I **like** how I look!" Axel protested, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. "Sure, I'm a little skinny, but at least I don't have _girl_ hips anymore! Sooner or later, I was going to end up looking like Vexen! And when he walked down the hallway, Marluxia would start humming that Shakira song 'Hips Don't Lie'!"

"Don't know it."

"Well, it's the principle of the thing!"

"So, what, your boggart would be yourself with one of those single-mother of seven arses?"

"Pretty much!"

Axel reluctantly spooned some of the potatoes onto his plate. "Besides, I just had my growth spurt. I put on nine inches and only five pounds."

"That's not normal," Hermione commented with a severe frown. "Why didn't you grow more?"

He paused half-way with the spoon to his mouth. "Hmm…. Well, I guess I can tell you. My mumsy was the po' folk of Traverse Town. A hooker. So I got fed whenever I could get some gas-station food on a five-finger discount. Was born skinny, grew up skinny, and I'll be damned if I get fat, like one of those tubby guys who goes out to mow his lawn on a hot Saturday and makes all of the kids who drive by nauseous."

"So basically you're anorexic because you're afraid of gaining too much weight?"

"I have some very shallow people to impress, thank you very kindly!"

"You mean you did," Harry corrected, "but this isn't the Organization. I'm your friend, and so are Draco and Blaise, not to mention Roxas and Naminè. You don't have to look like a model for your friends to care about you; not if they're really friends."

"Aww," Axel cooed, "it's so innocent and naïve."

"Who was that supposed to be a jab at? Because that's a horrible thing to say about the people who care about you."

Axel was about to make a witty retort when he paused. Something was moving across the hall where the Slytherins were sitting, along the wall behind Roxas and Draco. He frowned and narrowed his eyes trying to see better. If it was just a student, that would have been different, but this was too big to be the shadow of anyone except Hagrid walking past, and he would have noticed that man moving.

"Holy shit," he breathed, seeing long almost tentacle like hair raising up from the top of the shadow's head. "It can't be. Darkside!" he shouted, jumping up and almost knocking an entire bench over, pointing wildly across the hall.

People jerked sharply to stare and some of the Hufflepuffs, not getting the joke, laughed tentatively.

"Yes, Axel," Ron said, sounding like he was trying to talk to a crazy person, "the Slytherins are dark and evil."

"No, no you idiot! A heartless!" Roxas jumped up and turned to stare at the wall but, right as he did, the shadow disappeared.

"Axel!" he growled, loud enough to be heard across the hall as the red-head rushed over to him.

"This isn't a joke! I saw it! It was big and ugly with tentacle hair and big big hands and! No! This isn't fair! I'm not crazy!" he shouted, pointing. "Just keep watching! You know those things can get bigger or smaller!"

Roxas sighed as people stared. "Axel!" he hissed, "you're embarrassing me!"

"I saw it, Roxas! This is just like that Stealth Sneak! It disappears and makes me look stupid, but I'm seeing Heartless around the school!"

"Axel, sit down!" Draco snapped, his pale features painted in a bright red blush.

The red-head almost snapped for him to shut up when he saw something white coming in his direction, only this wasn't a monster. "Naminè! Did you see it?!"

"No, I didn't, now, Axel, why don't you go back to your table," she said, quietly, glancing around. "You're obviously jumpy, and that's kind of understandable with you being a member of the Organization, but you're safe here."

"I'm not seeing things!" he shouted, getting frustrated. "Alright," he demanded, knocking on the wall, "Darkside, Darkside, wherever you are, come out! Out! Show yourself so Roxy and I can kick your ass and my friends won't think I'm losing it!"

"Are you sure you aren't?" Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow at the suddenness of this bout of madness.

"I saw a Heartless!"

"Axel, that's enough!" Naminè shrieked. "Go back to the Gryffindor table and sit down! Stop jumping at shadows!"

"Believe me, if I saw a Shadow, that wouldn't be a problem; they're weak! But Stealth Sneaks and Darksides are big!"

Roxas grabbed his arm and started to physically drag him back across the hall. "Just be quiet," he chided, "I don't know why you're seeing these things, but they aren't real, Axel."

"Yes they are!"

"AX-EL!" Naminè snapped, sharply. "You should go see the nurse. You're scaring us."

"Sissy!"

"TO THE NURSE!"

Axel glared at her and the air started to hiss with the quick raise in temperature before he stormed out of the great hall.

Roxas blinked and looked between his boyfriend's retreating back and Naminè. "That was… unusual. Do you know what's going on, Naminè?"

"If I had to guess? Probably some kind of instilled paranoia that came from living in the Castle That Never Was. He always had to watch out for Saïx and Marluxia and Vexen, so being somewhere where nothing is after him is probably making him imagine heartless," she whispered, dragging Roxas out of the hall so that they could discuss this away from the huge number of staring eyes. "I could… with your say-so, of course, pick through his mind to see what it is that he's so afraid of."

"He would never let us get away with that. That would be an outstanding betrayal of his trust. Besides, he isn't aligned with Sora, is he?"

"He is, ah, aligned with _half_ of Sora. It's good enough for me to stretch it a bit. I can almost invent lines and connections now, if I absolutely have to."

The blonde boy pulled his hair a bit in frustration. "Do you think it's possible that there really are heartless around and we just aren't seeing them?"

"Possible? Everything is _possible_, Roxas. Is it probable, or explainable? No. Only we, our others, Riku, and King Mickey know where we are."

"But King Mickey hates us."

"And Heartless. I'm sure… three wild nobodies are less of a threat to him than inter-universal warfare. And he doesn't have control of the Heartless anyway."

"That's true," he mused. "Well… just don't do anything to upset Axel. He's barely eating anything, he's jumpy, and I'm trying my damnedest to get my boyfriend back."

"I understand."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Sora laughed almost effeminately as Riku chased him along the shallow water of Destiny Island's beach. "You aren't going to catch me, 'Ku!" he shouted, glancing over his shoulder and grinning.

"Sure, sure, Sora, I'm just _letting_ you stay ahead of me!" Riku replied, not allowing Sora to get away from him. "If I wanted to, I would have already put you on the sand!" He chuckled and sprang forward, knocking Sora down right into the water. "See!"

"That's not fair!" Sora pouted, struggling to push Riku off of him. "You're getting me wet!"

The two rolled around in the water for a while before the silver-haired teen laughed and let his companion up. "This is great, Sora. A night for just the two of us. A shoot 'em up, car chase movie, greasy burgers and snow cones, and a five-mile run along the beach. All the things we can't do with Kairi around."

"Don't talk bad about Kairi," Sora chided, poking his friend in the nose. "Beep beep. Heh, though I have to agree that this has been cool. I'm worn out now, though. I've gotten lazy since we beat Organization XIII. Feel!" Sora demanded, taking Riku's hand and putting it on his own chest over his heart, which was pounding.

"Heh heh, you _are_tired. Maybe I should carry you home bridal style, huh, Sora? Bet that would make a lovely picture."

"You're mean tonight!" Sora whined, smiling. He sat up and put his hands over his head before doing half of a back-bend to stretch. "I think it's part of sharing my energy with Roxas."

"Yeah, speaking of, how is Blondie doing? Do you still have a connection with him?"

"Of course. Sometimes I get flashes of what he did that day while I'm sleeping. It looks like he's having fun. A lot of new friends, he and Axel… cuddle-," Riku almost choked on the air he was breathing, "and he's learning all of the magic that he was talking about. I saw something… weird a little bit ago, but I ignored it. Axel apparently thought he saw a heartless. Roxas was having a nightmare about it, I'm afraid."

"Poor Blondie. But I'm happy for him and Axel, I guess. They aren't… banging, are they?"

"Banging?" Sora cocked his head.

"Reinventing the art of bare-back mounting?"

"Huh?"

"Are they _having__sex_, Sora?!"

"God I hope not!"

Riku laughed at the horrified look on the brunet's face. "Heh, tummy." He reached up and starting to tickle the belt of peach skin showing between Sora's pants and his tiny, navy-blue T-shirt.

"AH, RIKU!" Sora collapsed on his back and laughed while the silver-haired teen tickled him ceaselessly. "Stop it!" He reached up and bapped Riku on the head. "Naughty!" He pounced on Riku and they rolled over in the sand a bit, getting the yellow mess on their clothes. Sora chuckled and laid on top of his silver-haired best friend, resting his head on Riku's shoulder. "Oh, darn. Someone's coming," he grumbled, sitting up so that no one would see them and think anything inappropriate.

He paused halfway through. "Riku? Were any of the Organization members pale with long blond hair?"

"Vexen was. Older, constantly either looked like he was about to cry or someone - **cough** Marluxia **cough** - had shoved something large and spiky up his ass. Why?"

Sora raised a pointed finger, his hand shaking slightly.

Riku darted around before sighing in relief. "No, that isn't him. I've never seen this guy before."

"Thank god," Sora said, chuckling. "Walking around in a big black cloak… give me a heart attack." He watched the man for a minute, and the blond seemed to be staring at him. The brunet waved a hand in a tiny wave and the man walked up.

"Are you Sora Clearwater?"

"Yeah, I am. Who are you, Sir?"

"Lucius Malfoy. If you know a Roxas, an Axel, and a Naminè, we need to talk."


	18. Chapter 18

-1"I'm not crazy," Axel bitched as Madame Pomphrey performed a series of diagnostic tests on him to check things like his temperature and blood pressure before she actually began to address the so-called slip of the mind that had sent him there. "You gotta believe me! I'm not seeing things! There are monsters running all over this school!"

The stern nurse gave him a look. "Now, Mr. Axion. Have you had any accidents in the past several days that might have caused trauma to your cranium?"

"No, I **didn't** hit my head! Why doesn't anyone think I'm telling the truth!"

"Mr. Axion! I believe you. I think that you really are seeing these things."

Axel's entire face lit up like a star. "You do?!"

"That's the problem. It is our job now to figure out what might be wrong that is causing you to have these hallucinations."

"I'm not hallucinating!" he shouted, slamming his hands down on the bedside table. "I don't know why Roxas and Naminè aren't seeing the Heartless everywhere, but I am! We have to stop those things! Don't you know what they do?!"

"No. Why don't you tell me?" she asked as she put her hands on his head and shone a bright light in his eyes.

"They kill people! They rip out their hearts and take them back to their evil bitch-queen and her fat dog!" he announced, jabbing a finger into the air. He tried to explain in so few words the threat of having heartless around the school, especially two big ones like a Stealth Sneak and a Darkside, and the woman was just _nodding_ at him!

"What did Dumbledore say after I saw that one in the Great Hall?" he demanded, wondering if the Headmaster, at least, might understand the absolute importance of what he was seeing.

"I was not in the Great Hall, so I'm afraid that I cannot tell you," the nurse said as she laid him down and shoved a potion into his hands. "Now drink that so that you'll sleep. It's too dangerous to check for brain damage while you are still awake."

"BRAIN DAMAGE?!" Axel gave her a look like the flames he controlled before downing the potion. "This is ridiculous. I should have just whipped out my chackrams and fried that goddamn Heartless," he complained under his breath, getting a glare in return.

"Get some sleep. I'll know more when you wake up."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Axel stared up at the ceiling and amused himself by making tiny flames dance in front of his eyes while he tried to think. Despite the accusations, being an Organization member did **not** make you utterly paranoid about anything except walking in on Xemnas and Saïx… planning, **cough**. So he was obviously not seeing things, it was that simple! And two Heartless that could disappear or grow and shrink at will, well obviously they would disappear before Roxas or Naminè would notice them, but that was no reason to think he was lying about it!

"Oh god," he grumbled as he thought of all of the reasons for them **not** to believe him. Knowing the goody-two-shoes that he'd been stuck in a house with, someone at that table would openly bounce up to Roxas and inform him that Axel was picking at his food.

They might even say that his so-called 'imaginary' Heartless was a way to get out of the conversation, not like he'd found it awkward in any way what-so-ever; it was all true, he just wouldn't flaunt it in front of his worry-wart boyfriend and sister.

The potion started to work quickly and Axel found himself getting a bit dizzy as he tried to focus on the swirling fire in front of him, dancing merrily around his fingertips like an energetic puppy let out to play. "Alright, sleepy time." He put the fire out before curling up like a child and hugging his pillow.

An hour later, a group of teenagers snuck into the hospital ward, cramped together under one big cloth. "Ow! You're stepping on my foot!"

"That's my _ribs_, blondie!"

"Looks who's talking, you son of a Marilynn Monroe wannabe!"

"WHAT?!"

"Shut up or you'll wake him up!" Naminè was the first one to emerge from under the invisibility cloak. "I'm sorry to say this, Harry, but I don't think so many people are meant to fit under one itty bitty cloth."

"I'm just glad the mud blood and the weasel stayed behind," Draco stated haughtily as he stepped out and started to fix his hair, Blaise not far behind.

"That's not the point of being here," Roxas snapped, "we're here to see if Naminè can figure out what's wrong with Axel. I don't know about you guys, but I _didn't_ see a heartless emerge from the middle of nowhere, so we can assume that something isn't right here."

"Keep your voices down," Naminè urged as she stepped up to the bed. "And, ah, Roxas, come here for a minute."

"For what?" he asked even as he did as his friend bid.

She blushed bright pink. "I have to establish a clear line between him and Sora. That means you'll have to act as a… conductor, so to speak."

"Meaning?"

"Well…." She took one of Axel's hands in her own and stared down at it. "It means that either you or Sora, preferably you for time reasons, you understand, will have to kiss him. One of those… true love, awoke Briar Rose and Bianca de Nevada kind of kisses."

"God, Naminè!" Roxas complained, looking horribly embarrassed while Draco and Blaise laughed a bit cruelly. "Do I really have to do that in front of _everyone_?"

"Kind of," she replied, smiling.

"Great." Not like the Keyblade's second master had any problems kissing his extremely hot, wild-cat boyfriend, but one of those gooey only in Disney movies and chick flicks lip suckings? Nasty.

The blonde sighed and leaned down over Axel, trying to ignore the snickers, and pressed his lips to Axel's, gently, getting up on the bed a bit so that he wouldn't be showing his ass to his new friends. His breath caught a bit as Axel moved his fingers, holding onto his shirt a bit.

"He's still asleep," Naminè reassured with a smile. "And that was a good connection, by the way." She sat down on a chair and started to push outwards with her consciousness. "Well. None of the lines seem to be broken, so at least we know he isn't insane."

"Are we sure about that?" Roxas asked with mock doubtfulness.

"Hush." She sighed and continued to pry through Axel's mind, making sure to leave everything just as she found it. Some of the memories were traumatizing - apparently Xigbar's age didn't stop him from getting laid - and others were sweet with him and Roxas curling up like puppies. But she searched for the memories of when he had seen the heartless and was surprised at what she saw.

Naminè did not really know what a Stealth Sneak looked like, but there **was** a huge lizard thing that he had seen in Care of Magical Creatures. She didn't know if it was a heartless or not - she couldn't see the symbol on it's chest - but it was startling.

The Darkside she recognized, though she really couldn't tell if that was what he was seeing or if it was just a trick of the light as it had never come out of the wall, but there _was_ something there, enough to startle Axel and get the passionate, almost crazed response.

She slowly pulled out of Axel's mind without prying any further. "He isn't just… making this up, Roxas," she informed the Keyblade's other, quietly, folding her hands in her lap. "I'm not sure exactly… what the Heartless look like - Marluxia always kept them away from me - but there really are things that he's seeing. I mean… he might be crazy and just seeing things, and I would see what he imagined, but I don't think that's what's happening."

Roxas looked stunned. "Really… real heartless? Here in this world? But how? The King and Dumbledore said that our worlds weren't connected with this one. There shouldn't be anything even resembling a Heartless here."

"Well, apparently Axel was telling the truth."

Roxas looked guiltily down at his hands. "God, I'm an ass, then. He's ticked off at me because I wouldn't believe him."

Naminè smiled. "When he wakes up, you can tell him that you found out that he was telling the truth. But please, please don't tell him that I was prying through his mind. I don't want him to be mad at me."

"I won't."

Roxas sighed and took off without the invisibility cloak, simply hoping that no one would interrupt him while he went to get a little bit of alone time, still feeling bad about Axel's little fits. No wonder the red-head hadn't felt safe; knowing Axel, he probably also had a bit of fear that he might have been seeing things.

Force of habit, he climbed up to the highest point, the astronomy tower, and laid down, staring up at the stars. He pulled out the necklace that held Axel's fire, dangling it over his eyes. Real heartless, and the only person who had seen them so far was locked up in the hospital wing. Perfect.

The little fiery orb glowed softly and he smiled, though it was more of a twitch of his lips. "God," he muttered, "Axel and I can't have one minute of working relationship between us, can we? If it's not us being harassed by Xemnas for thinking of each other as anything more than casual fuck-buddies, an idea that would _never_ suffice for the unnamable bond between himself and his ass-kitty, then it's me forgetting who he even is or us being in a weird place surrounded by strangers and being stalked by monsters."

He sighed and let his hand lower until the orb was against his lips. He kissed it and was a bit disturbed to realize that the smooth surface was exactly as warm as Axel's skin. He made a note not to do that again.

"What else can go wrong?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Lucius could not stop a glare from marring his features as Wormtail scrambled around his study, looking through his books and not putting them back on the shelves and stuffing everything into an unorganized pile that threatened to tip over at any given second.

"I would be more than happy to _help_ you take those papers to our master," he hissed, voice low, even though he was seated regally in his comfortable, high-backed chair. "After all, _I_ was the one who was able to find information that may help in the fulfilling of his plans. _I_ brought him the boy!"

Wormtail flinched back from the aristocrat's chilling anger that seemed to actually lower the temperature of the room. Of course the _elegant_ Malfoy senior would never do something so unseemly as to become _angry_, but this was the closest he had ever gotten! "The Dark Lord told _me_ to bring him the information that you have collected so far. If you have a problem with that, take it up with him," he suggested, knowing that no one would _ever_ be that stupid.

Lucius's fingers twitched where they were wrapped around the thin black cane he carried, almost pulling his wand free before he thought better of it. "Very well. Then I suggest you gather the information and scurry scurry little mouse before I decide to have you eaten."

The chubby animagus quickly gathered up the stacks of research into a messy pile in his arms and darted out of the room towards the back of Malfoy Manor's grand front wing, where a set of stairs lead down to the dungeon that their, ah, 'guest' had been staying in.

"C-come on, you," Wormtail insisted, grabbing the bound and gagged brunet by the arm and dragging him out of his barred cell. "The Dark Lord won't be pleased with me if you're late."

Huge, ocean-blue eyes stared up at him, anger and betrayal hidden behind a tiny shine of fear. There was blood all over the boy's ripped T-shirt and baggy pants that hung low on him, showing off his hips, which were almost girlish in figure. He followed Wormtail since he simply had no choice about the matter. He didn't know where he was, or why he was there, or who any of these people were except for the man who had dragged him there.

Organization member or not, he was never trusting anyone in black robes again!

He was dragged back upstairs and past a number of very tall doors. The blond man was standing at one of them without appearing to actually be watching for them, his silver-blue eyes glancing over his frame. "By the way, Wormtail? This boy, his name means 'Sky'. Be nice - I'm sure he's worried about his little friend."

Sora felt like something heavy and warm had been thrown on top of him when he heard that though the man dragging him didn't seem to pay any attention to the man's comment. Riku…. He had no idea what had even been _done_ to his friend. The blond had simply pointed a stick at his friend, hissed under his breath, and Riku fell with a horrible, stomach wrenching spray of blood.

He felt like his head was spinning and he drooped, closing his eyes as he felt nausea well up in the back of his throat. He almost lost his footing and, were it not for the fist attached to the chain between his wrists, he was sure he would have collapsed to the ground.

When the large, blue eyes cracked open, though, he was surprised to find that he was _not_ on the grassy plain that surrounded the Wiltshire manor where he had been held prisoner for the past day but in a dark place where the black, puffy clouds seemed to block out any light, on the outside of a gate over-grown with vines. "'re 're 'e?" he tried to demand, bravely, behind the cloth tied over his mouth.

"Hush! Be quiet," his captor demanded, pointing another stick at him and Sora didn't say anything else, thinking 'oh, you just wait until my hands are free'.

He pushed open the gate with a loud creak and dragged Sora in, looking increasingly nervous as soft hisses came from the untended yard and every now and then something skinny would slide along the ground just out of the cover of shadows.

Sora was dragged into the dark, practically collapsing building and he was eerily reminded of the castle at Hallow Bastion during a thunder storm, or something of the like. The inside was dusty with cobwebs and spiders everywhere and Sora was sure that no one could possibly live there and allow their home to look this horrible unless they were from Halloween Town!

At last, through one last door, then Sora was shoved face-first into a large great hall, full of people in dark robes - at least eight times as many as Organization XIII had ever had, and maybe twice as much as their total numbers with Nobodies.

"Ah, welcome, our ssspecial guessst."

Sora jerked and managed to get up onto his knees to find the source of the hissing voice when he saw something that even startled him - a human, sitting with great flourish on a high throne, though his stance was the only thing lordly about him. He was too pale and too skinny with a jutting collar bone showing and no hair capping flesh pulled so taught over his face that it seemed to be smushing features such as his nose.

He rubbed his cheek against his shoulder many times like a cat against a person's leg and managed to slip the gag off of his lips enough to spit out the wad of cloth. "Who are you people? Where am I? Why have you brought me here!" he demanded in a rush, jerking at the clasps around his wrists which, to his surprise, didn't even slip along his skin.

The man in the chair laughed loudly at Sora's complaints. "So brave for such a little child, dragged from his home and covered in the blood of a friend, isn't he?" Sora flinched as the crowd chuckled quietly, like a 'wave' in the crowd of a sporting event.

"I have read much about you," Voldemort lied - he had listened to what his pathetic minions had read; that was what a Dark Lord does! - "Sora, the Keyblade _master_. Killer of Heartless and Nobodies. Now how did that go again? "Sora is indispensable if I am to achieve my goal. I require the Keyblade-wielding hero to fly through the realm of light and defeat Organization XIII'," he quoted, blandly.

"They're already gone," Sora snapped, thinking that this might have been another fanatical do-gooder, "the Organization was defeated." _Even__if__one__was__resurrected__and__one__never__actually__**died**__per__se_ "So you're too late to be the hero."

The laughter this time was louder, though still overly-practiced. "A hero? No, not at all. In fact, I would much rather have your enemies' powers under my own thumb. And if you were the key to killing them, the reverse should be true as well."

"Why would you _want_ to reverse their fall?!" Sora demanded, voice raising.

Voldemort ignored him and turned his want on Wormtail, hissing a spell that levitated the entire stack of papers over to beside himself, startling Nagini, who hissed and whipped out through the crowd of Death Eaters, attacking one or two with her venomous bites, though their companions left them there on the ground dying.

"Exactly what I was looking for," he hissed with pleasure as he pulled up a single page. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Sora jerked as impossibly tight invisible bonds wrapped around his body, pulling him out to his full length, unable to so much as twitch his fingers.

All around him, a strange drawing, many circles with the symbols for the Heartless, Nobodies, and another that looked vaguely familiar glowing brightly.

"A long dream.  
A sad farewell, hanging in the air in that "world between".  
What is reality? What is illusion?

The path chosen by the young boy leads to his memories.  
When caught in the stream of the days and nights going past, gaze anew at your steps…  
for there all confusion will end."

Sora remembered the words from somewhere before - maybe he had not heard them audibly the last time - and he tried to recall where he knew them from until Yen Sid's book popped into his head. The one about the Nobodies!

He struggled, though you couldn't see it with him being paralyzed, and choked off a cry as the symbols grew brighter until they were stinging his eyes but even after that it didn't stop until there was nothing but white.

Then he heard voices.

"That's it! When I get my claws on you I'm going to tear your faggot little-!"

"Yipes! I'm sorry, it was an accident, okay?! I didn't know that was you I was snuggling against in my sleep!"

"Why don't the both of you just shut up?"

"Are you kidding?! Two hot guys tackling each other is, like, really hot!"

"… poetry, Xigbar. Absolute poetry."

Sora mentally jumped at the familiar voices - fury with purring, a slightly high whine, and surfer - along with a squeaky woman and a bland boy's voice. His vision, the white, cleared up and he was floating above a seemingly endless abyss, peppered with color from the Organization members!

Five of them were unfamiliar to him, but he knew who they _must_ have been from Riku and Naminè and the other six he remembered defeating not all that unbearably long ago. Saïx was on top of Demyx, clawing at his face and eyes, while a blonde woman - Larxine, his brain supplied - watched, legs crossed next to Xigbar and 'Zexion'. 'Marluxia' was pestering 'Vexen' - _wow_, Sora thought, _he__does__look__like__that__guy__that__grabbed__me__a__little_ - while Xemnas stared blankly into space at the edge of the group. The rest were playing poker.

"Xaldin, save me!" Demyx shrieked, trying to fight off the rabid beast atop of him.

"You got yourself into it by grabbing at him in the first place," the side burned man commented, glaring at the cards in his hand like they would change from his simple will power.

"Are you going to fold or not?" Luxord demanded, a smirk around the edges of his mouth.

"Oh come on, Vexen! You're such a stuffy little wallflower! Do you really want to spend all of your afterlife sitting in a corner staring off into space like… well, like our leader for one!" Marluxia stated, hands on his hips.

"Just because I don't plan on sinking to the level of the rest of you pathetic creatures does not mean that you have any right to pester me for the rest of eternity. This _must_ be hell if the likes of you are here!"

"WHAT?! Vexen, you bastard!"

"Oh my god, Zexion, that's it! Go over there and put a cork in that thing before I do it for you!" Saïx snarled from where he had his hands wrapped around Demyx's throat.

"… Please. I don't _do_ physical labor. That's what I keep Lexaeus around for."

The large male put his hand of cards down and went over to Marluxia, wrapping an arm around him and a hand over his mouth. "Shut!" he commanded, like one would to a disobedient dog.

Sora couldn't hide a tiny smile, from everything that Naminè had told him about Marluxia and his experiences with the other 'evil' members. They were different when they were by themselves.

But, right before he could start laughing at the Organization's antics, a feeling like fire burst forth from his chest and he let out a shrieking but silent scream as a hand, thin and almost effeminate with long, knobby fingers tightly covered by their sickly flesh, reached out from his form and towards the Nobodies.

He tried to call out to them, to warn them to run - because, enemies or not, they didn't deserve to be hurt after _already_dying - but it was useless as one of their number was plucked up by the hair and Sora passed out into blackness, just conscious long enough to feel the clammy stone floor smash against his cheek.


	19. Chapter 19

Alright, I know it's been forever since I updated, but I'm going to try to do better even though my profile says I'm giving it up. It's more like 'I'm giving it up until inspiration hits me. Then I'll write in short bursts that will eventually end'.

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"When are you going to let me out of here?!" Axel demanded of the nurse who was standing over him, a disapproving look on her face as she stared him down.

"You'll leave when I say you can and not a moment sooner!"

"But I'm not sick! I don't need to be locked up in here! This place is worse than living at The Castle That Never Was! At least that fag Marluxia had _some_ sense of interior design!"

The nurse squawked in indignation at the hit Axel took to her precious hospital wing. "Mr. Axion, I still want to run more tests about the things you've been seeing!"

"Chalk it up to stress and let me go!"

Axel pushed the bed sheets aside and stood up with confidence, crossing his arms over his chest. "Let me out of here or I'll burn the whole hospital wing down!"

"Just try it and I'll have you 'locked up in here' for the rest of the week!"

Axel glared and sat down on a different bed, facing the window. "Wow," he muttered watching the tops of the trees in the forbidden forest ripple. "Looks like there's a huge wind blowing. I hope Harry has the sense to put on a thick robe during Care of Magical Creatures today. Hey… it looks like I can see the hut from here!"

He grinned and pulled blanket up over his shoulders. "Alright, Madame, can I at least sit here? I'm going absolutely stir-crazy staring at these walls!"

Madame Pomfrey puffed up furiously but realized that she was going to get no-where with the tattooed pyromaniac. "On the condition that you eat all of your lunch! I was looking at your vitals and you're far too skinny!"

"How many people are going to complain about that?! I think I look good!" Axel reached down and poked his skinny tummy. "I won't stop until I look like Jack Skellington! But not so pale; that's just creepy."

The nurse figured, quite rightly, that he was babbling to himself. She decided to just let it go and walked back to her office.

Axel leaned closer and squinted, trying to see what the class was working on for the day. If it was another Heartless then he could watch where Hagrid stored it and take Roxas and Naminè to see it!

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Naminè blushed when she felt Draco Malfoy's eyes on her from where she sat in the library. She shyly pushed some of her hair back, trying to focus on her book. She wanted to talk to him, so bad!, but since Draco had started being so cold to her, she was nervous.

Draco, for his part, was torn in half by his two greatest desires - to be with Naminè and to please his father. Certainly Lucius would tear him in half if he found out that he was talking to Naminè, but he was more worried about his godfather's warning that being around her might put her in danger. He knew that Snape wasn't the type to overreact, especially when it came to his father and You-Know-Who, but it was hard to love someone and not be allowed to be near them.

The small lock of Naminè's daffodil hair fell back against her cheek and Draco moaned silently, wanting to brush it away. It was like that little bit of hair was just taunting him, demanding that he break his word to Severus and put the girl in danger!

"Draco… when you stare at me… I can't concentrate on my book," she whispered just loud enough to be heard.

He blushed across the cheeks and nose. "Sorry."

"Will you please come over here and sit? Won't you talk to me?"

"Naminè… I can't."

She frowned and sat her book down. "Then I'll come sit by you." She folded down her page and stood up, moving over to his table and pulling up a chair. "At least until you tell me why you're so mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you," he said, quickly. "It's just…. My father-."

"Oh. I definitely got the feeling that he didn't like us."

"It's… because you weren't raised in the magical world," Draco said. After a few seconds of awkward silence he decided to steer the conversation away. "Um… why aren't you in class?"

"We ended up getting out; you know… she was having a 'moment'."

Draco laughed cruelly; Trelawny was a nutter. "I heard you can read tarot cards and they actually come out right."

"Did Roxas tell you that?" She smiled. "I could do a reading for you if you want."

"That would be great!" he admitted.

"SHH!"

The two blondes ducked down and laughed when the librarian got onto them for making too much noise.

"Maybe somewhere more private. How about we go on a walk around the grounds for now?"

"Se-Snape wouldn't like it… if he saw us together."

Naminè seemed thoughtful for a second. "I could sneak past a sadistic psychopath and an obsessed botanist… I bet we can sneak around without being seen. Maybe we should pick up Roxas and Blaise, too."

Draco seemed less than happy to have other men in on his time with her, especially when he wouldn't get in trouble for it, and she picked up on that.

"Come on." She took his hand and dragged him down to the dungeons. "Go in and get them."

"Alright, alright. You're bossy when I get to know you better."

She stuck her tongue out and wrapped her arms tighter around her book.

Eventually, he emerged with two other Slytherins.

"Hey Sissy," Roxas said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Malfoy says we're going on a walk?" She smiled and nodded happily.

"Have you been up to visit Axel lately?"

"I tried to go in this morning, but the nurse said it was too early to be waking him up."

"Poor Clearwater, deprived of his boy-toy time."

Roxas pounced at Draco and grabbed him in a headlock. "That's it, prissy!" He rubbed his knuckles on the top of Draco's hair, making the pureblood shriek and squirm. "What are you doing, asshole!"

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione dubiously approached the half-giant, grinning next to a box.

"Mornin', you three! Yer here early! Want a sneak-peak at what we're gonna be lookin' at durin' class today?" Hagrid boomed, patting the top of the crate. The box jerked and jumped and there were odd squelching sounds coming from the inside.

"Will it attack?" Ron asked, taking a step back.

"Ah, it's just a little cranky is all! But yeh should see it, it actually looks kinda cute!"

Hermione wrapped an arm around Harry's, holding onto him for some support. "I suppose… we can take a look if you keep it in the box."

"Where's the fun in that?!" But Hagrid used a crowbar to pry the lid off, reaching down into it. "Stay in there, ya little thing!"

"What are you guys doing?" Roxas called over as the group of four walked along the edge of the forest, Blaise and Draco both having flirted with Naminè, who was perked up now that her preferred suitor was paying attention to her again.

"Hagrid is going to show us what's for class today," Harry said, "you guys want to come over and take a look?"

"Yeah, sure. Is it another heartless?" Roxas thought out loud as he walked up.

He peeked inside and jumped a little.

"What is it?!" Harry lunged forward to take a look even though Ron and Hermione both stepped back.

"It looks like a Powerwild," Roxas said, taking a deep breath. "It's a Heartless."

"Yer friends with that Axion boy, ain't ya? He keeps sayin' the same thing about all me creatures! I don't know what he means - they're just a little shy!"

"No, no," Roxas breathed as he reached for a Keyblade at his belt. "Not that they're heartless, they're creatures called Heartless. They're evil," he said, gravely. "They actually attack people and eat their souls."

"Like dementors?!" Ron demanded, hiding behind Hermione.

"I don't know what those are, but they're dangerous. Back in my home, my friends and I swore an oath to destroy any of them we see."

"No!" Hagrid roared, putting the lid back on the box as the monkey tried to jump out. "You'll not do it!

"Hagrid," Hermione reasoned, "if that really is dangerous, then it's probably best."

"No!"

A huge wind picked up and for a second, Harry thought that Hagrid might have used the broken fragments of his wand to raise it.

"Brr!" Naminè rubbed her arms, the skinny white dress under her robes not keeping her very warm.

"It's a blustery day," Roxas agreed, eyes still on the box.

A huge group of students started to approach, the students of the class, and they were all huddled together too.

"Don't let that thing out in front of the class," Roxas warned, "or it will probably try to attack them. They're unbelievably fast!"

"I think it's a cute little un!"

The wind picked up heavier and Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. "Hagrid, you need to calm down, please!" Harry said, trying to make the wind go away.

Roxas pulled his Keyblade out as Hagrid stood protecting the Heartless.

"Roxas, we should go," Naminè said, "we aren't really a part of this class anyway; we shouldn't interfere." She stepped forward and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away from the angry half-giant.

The blond male frowned but since his fellow Slytherins also seemed to be itching to get out of there, he decided to go ahead and go. Since the Gryffindors knew it was dangerous, they would probably keep an eye out.

However, just as he turned, something hit him in the back and knocked him flat onto his stomach.

"Youch!"

"Roxas, are you okay?!" Naminè knelt down and tried to help him onto his feet.

"Yeah… nothing broken, but what hit me in the back?"

"It was too fast for me to see it."

"A curse?" Blaise asked, raising his wand towards the forest that it had come from.

"It didn't feel like one."

"Wh-wh-wh…."

Roxas glanced over at the stammering Draco. The bleach blonde was facing the castle, eyes and mouth wide open, and was pointing upwards. "What… is that?!"

Everybody looked and Hermione shrieked. A huge, blue and glowing dragon was circling around the towers, it's head almost a perfect point.

"I… I feel like I've seen that thing before," Roxas managed out, weakly, staring at the huge dragon.

It looked right at them and it's pointed head opened up. A huge ball built up in it's mouth and Harry pushed Hermione to the ground. "Everybody get down!"

The dragon let out a huge beam of energy as it dove at them and Harry had to roll to the side to miss an entire spray of it's attack.

"A full-grown dragon!" Hagrid said, "I'll be! I wonder what kind it is!"

"I don't think that's what we need to worry about right now!"

"R-Roxas…. I think that thing… is a Nobody!"

"WHAT?!" He whipped around and stared at Naminè.

"It looks like one! Axel showed me some pictures out of a book! It had Marluxia's mecha-thing, and Demyx's water clones, and that thing!"

"Whose was it, Naminè?!"

Harry kept his eyes on the dragon flying everywhere before a huge, gloved hand grabbed him around the mouth and jerked him to his feet. He managed to get a small sound of distress out and everyone turned.

The huge, bear-like man standing behind him had long hair that was pulled back into multiple braids and almost fur-thick sideburns.

"XALDIN?!"

"Don't try it, XIII; take another step and I'll kill the boy here and now." A blue lance pressed against Harry's throat.


End file.
